{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_10390/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_10390","id":"gutenberg_10390","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10390","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Psychiatry/Psychology","Category: Religion/Spirituality","New Thought"],"text":"THE EDINBURGH LECTURES ON MENTAL SCIENCE\n\nBY THOMAS TROWARD LATE DIVISIONAL JUDGE, PUNJAB\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE WRITER AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATES THIS LITTLE VOLUME TO HIS WIFE\n\n\n\nFOREWORD.\n\n\nThis book contains the substance of a course of lectures recently given by\nthe writer in the Queen Street Hall, Edinburgh. Its purpose is to indicate\nthe _Natural Principles_ governing the relation between Mental Action and\nMaterial Conditions, and thus to afford the student an intelligible\nstarting-point for the practical study of the subject.\n\nT.T.\n\nMarch, 1904.\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n   I.--SPIRIT AND MATTER.\n  II.--THE HIGHER MODE OF INTELLIGENCE CONTROLS THE LOWER\n III.--THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT\n  IV.--SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE MIND\n   V.--FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE MIND\n  VI.--THE LAW OF GROWTH\n VII.--RECEPTIVITY.\nVIII.--RECIPROCAL ACTION OF THE UNIVERSAL AND INDIVIDUAL MINDS\n  IX.--CAUSES AND CONDITIONS\n   X.--INTUITION\n  XI.--HEALING\n XII.--THE WILL\nXIII.--IN TOUCH WITH SUBCONSCIOUS MIND\n XIV.--THE BODY\n  XV.--THE SOUL\n XVI.--THE SPIRIT\n\n\n\n\nI.\n\nSPIRIT AND MATTER.\n\n\nIn commencing a course of lectures on Mental Science, it is somewhat\ndifficult for the lecturer to fix upon the best method of opening the\nsubject. It can be approached from many sides, each with some peculiar\nadvantage of its own; but, after careful deliberation, it appears to me\nthat, for the purpose of the present course, no better starting-point could\nbe selected than the relation between Spirit and Matter. I select this\nstarting-point because the distinction--or what we believe to be such--\nbetween them is one with which we are so familiar that I can safely assume\nits recognition by everybody; and I may, therefore, at once state this\ndistinction by using the adjectives which we habitually apply as expressing\nthe natural opposition between the two--_living_ spirit and _dead_ matter.\nThese terms express our current impression of the opposition between spirit\nand matter with sufficient accuracy, and considered only from the point of\nview of outward appearances this impression is no doubt correct. The\ngeneral consensus of mankind is right in trusting the evidence of our\nsenses, and any system which tells us that we are not to do so will never\nobtain a permanent footing in a sane and healthy community. There is\nnothing wrong in the evidence conveyed to a healthy mind by the senses of a\nhealthy body, but the point where error creeps in is when we come to judge\nof the meaning of this testimony. We are accustomed to judge only by\nexternal appearances and by certain limited significances which we attach\nto words; but when we begin to enquire into the real meaning of our words\nand to analyse the causes which give rise to the appearances, we find our\nold notions gradually falling off from us, until at last we wake up to the\nfact that we are living in an entirely different world to that we formerly\nrecognized. The old limited mode of thought has imperceptibly slipped away,\nand we discover that we have stepped out into a new order of things where\nall is liberty and life. This is the work of an enlightened intelligence\nresulting from persistent determination to discover what truth really is\nirrespective of any preconceived notions from whatever source derived, the\ndetermination to think honestly for ourselves instead of endeavouring to\nget our thinking done for us. Let us then commence by enquiring what we\nreally mean by the livingness which we attribute to spirit and the deadness\nwhich we attribute to matter.\n\nAt first we may be disposed to say that livingness consists in the power of\nmotion and deadness in its absence; but a little enquiry into the most\nrecent researches of science will soon show us that this distinction does\nnot go deep enough. It is now one of the fully-established facts of\nphysical science that no atom of what we call \"dead matter\" is without\nmotion. On the table before me lies a solid lump of steel, but in the light\nof up-to-date science I know that the atoms of that seemingly inert mass\nare vibrating with the most intense energy, continually dashing hither and\nthither, impinging upon and rebounding from one another, or circling round\nlike miniature solar systems, with a ceaseless rapidity whose complex\nactivity is enough to bewilder the imagination. The mass, as a mass, may\nlie inert upon the table; but so far from being destitute of the element of\nmotion it is the abode of the never-tiring energy moving the particles with\na swiftness to which the speed of an express train is as nothing. It is,\ntherefore, not the mere fact of motion that is at the root of the\ndistinction which we draw instinctively between spirit and matter; we must\ngo deeper than that. The solution of the problem will never be found by\ncomparing Life with what we call deadness, and the reason for this will\nbecome apparent later on; but the true key is to be found by comparing one\ndegree of livingness with another. There is, of course, one sense in which\nthe quality of livingness does not admit of degrees; but there is another\nsense in which it is entirely a question of degree. We have no doubt as to\nthe livingness of a plant, but we realize that it is something very\ndifferent from the livingness of an animal. Again, what average boy would\nnot prefer a fox-terrier to a goldfish for a pet? Or, again, why is it that\nthe boy himself is an advance upon the dog? The plant, the fish, the dog,\nand the boy are all equally _alive_; but there is a difference in the\nquality of their livingness about which no one can have any doubt, and no\none would hesitate to say that this difference is in the degree of\nintelligence. In whatever way we turn the subject we shall always find that\nwhat we call the \"livingness\" of any individual life is ultimately measured\nby its intelligence. It is the possession of greater intelligence that\nplaces the animal higher in the scale of being than the plant, the man\nhigher than the animal, the intellectual man higher than the savage. The\nincreased intelligence calls into activity modes of motion of a higher\norder corresponding to itself. The higher the intelligence, the more\ncompletely the mode of motion is under its control: and as we descend in\nthe scale of intelligence, the descent is marked by a corresponding\nincrease in _automatic_ motion not subject to the control of a\nself-conscious intelligence. This descent is gradual from the expanded\nself-recognition of the highest human personality to that lowest order of\nvisible forms which we speak of as \"things,\" and from which\nself-recognition is entirely absent.\n\nWe see, then, that the livingness of Life consists in intelligence--in\nother words, in the power of Thought; and we may therefore say that the\ndistinctive quality of spirit is Thought, and, as the opposite to this, we\nmay say that the distinctive quality of matter is Form. We cannot conceive\nof matter without form. Some form there must be, even though invisible to\nthe physical eye; for matter, to be matter at all, must occupy space, and\nto occupy any particular space necessarily implies a corresponding form.\nFor these reasons we may lay it down as a fundamental proposition that the\ndistinctive quality of spirit is Thought and the distinctive quality of\nmatter is Form. This is a radical distinction from which important\nconsequences follow, and should, therefore, be carefully noted by the\nstudent.\n\nForm implies extension in space and also limitation within certain\nboundaries. Thought implies neither. When, therefore, we think of Life as\nexisting in any particular _form_ we associate it with the idea of\nextension in space, so that an elephant may be said to consist of a vastly\nlarger amount of living substance than a mouse. But if we think of Life as\nthe fact of livingness we do not associate it with any idea of extension,\nand we at once realize that the mouse is quite as much alive as the\nelephant, notwithstanding the difference in size. The important point of\nthis distinction is that if we can conceive of anything as entirely devoid\nof the element of extension in space, it must be present in its entire\ntotality anywhere and everywhere--that is to say, at every point of space\nsimultaneously. The scientific definition of time is that it is the period\noccupied by a body in passing from one given point in space to another,\nand, therefore, according to this definition, when there is no space there\ncan be no time; and hence that conception of spirit which realizes it as\ndevoid of the element of space must realize it as being devoid of the\nelement of time also; and we therefore find that the conception of spirit\nas pure Thought, and not as concrete Form, is the conception of it as\nsubsisting perfectly independently of the elements of time and space. From\nthis it follows that if the idea of anything is conceived as existing on\nthis level it can only represent that thing as being actually present here\nand now. In this view of things nothing can be remote from us either in\ntime or space: either the idea is entirely dissipated or it exists as an\nactual present entity, and not as something that _shall_ be in the future,\nfor where there is no sequence in time there can be no future. Similarly\nwhere there is no space there can be no conception of anything as being at\na distance from us. When the elements of time and space are eliminated all\nour ideas of things must necessarily be as subsisting in a universal here\nand an everlasting now. This is, no doubt, a highly abstract conception,\nbut I would ask the student to endeavour to grasp it thoroughly, since it\nis of vital importance in the practical application of Mental Science, as\nwill appear further on.\n\nThe opposite conception is that of things expressing themselves through\nconditions of time and space and thus establishing a variety of _relations_\nto other things, as of bulk, distance, and direction, or of sequence in\ntime. These two conceptions are respectively the conception of the abstract\nand the concrete, of the unconditioned and the conditioned, of the absolute\nand the relative. They are not opposed to each other in the sense of\nincompatibility, but are each the complement of the other, and the only\nreality is in the combination of the two. The error of the extreme idealist\nis in endeavouring to realize the absolute without the relative, and the\nerror of the extreme materialist is in endeavouring to realize the relative\nwithout the absolute. On the one side the mistake is in trying to realize\nan inside without an outside, and on the other in trying to realize an\noutside without an inside; both are necessary to the formation of a\nsubstantial entity.\n\n\n\n\nII.\n\nTHE HIGHER MODE OF INTELLIGENCE CONTROLS THE LOWER.\n\n\nWe have seen that the descent from personality, as we know it in ourselves,\nto matter, as we know it under what we call inanimate forms, is a gradual\ndescent in the scale of intelligence from that mode of being which is able\nto realize its own will-power as a capacity for originating new trains of\ncausation to that mode of being which is incapable of recognizing itself at\nall. The higher the grade of life, the higher the intelligence; from which\nit follows that the supreme principle of Life must also be the ultimate\nprinciple of intelligence. This is clearly demonstrated by the grand\nnatural order of the universe. In the light of modern science the principle\nof evolution is familiar to us all, and the accurate adjustment existing\nbetween all parts of the cosmic scheme is too self-evident to need\ninsisting upon. Every advance in science consists in discovering new\nsubtleties of connection in this magnificent universal order, which already\nexists and only needs our recognition to bring it into practical use. If,\nthen, the highest work of the greatest minds consists in nothing else than\nthe recognition of an already existing order, there is no getting away from\nthe conclusion that a paramount intelligence must be inherent in the\nLife-Principle, which manifests itself _as_ this order; and thus we see\nthat there must be a great cosmic intelligence underlying the totality of\nthings.\n\nThe physical history of our planet shows us first an incandescent nebula\ndispersed over vast infinitudes of space; later this condenses into a\ncentral sun surrounded by a family of glowing planets hardly yet\nconsolidated from the plastic primordial matter; then succeed untold\nmillenniums of slow geological formation; an earth peopled by the lowest\nforms of life, whether vegetable or animal; from which crude beginnings a\nmajestic, unceasing, unhurried, forward movement brings things stage by\nstage to the condition in which we know them now. Looking at this steady\nprogression it is clear that, however we may conceive the nature of the\nevolutionary principle, it unerringly provides for the continual advance of\nthe race. But it does this by creating such numbers of each kind that,\nafter allowing a wide margin for all possible accidents to individuals, the\nrace shall still continue:--\n\n    \"So careful of the type it seems\n    So careless of the single life.\"\n\nIn short, we may say that the cosmic intelligence works by a Law of\nAverages which allows a wide margin of accident and failure to the\nindividual.\n\nBut the progress towards higher intelligence is always in the direction of\nnarrowing down this margin of accident and taking the individual more and\nmore out of the law of averages, and substituting the law of individual\nselection. In ordinary scientific language this is the survival of the\nfittest. The reproduction of fish is on a scale that would choke the sea\nwith them if every individual survived; but the margin of destruction is\ncorrespondingly enormous, and thus the law of averages simply keeps up the\nnormal proportion of the race. But at the other end of the scale,\nreproduction is by no means thus enormously in excess of survival. True,\nthere is ample margin of accident and disease cutting off numbers of human\nbeings before they have gone through the average duration of life, but\nstill it is on a very different scale from the premature destruction of\nhundreds of thousands as against the survival of one. It may, therefore, be\ntaken as an established fact that in proportion as intelligence advances\nthe individual ceases to be subject to a mere law of averages and has a\ncontinually increasing power of controlling the conditions of his own\nsurvival.\n\nWe see, therefore, that there is a marked distinction between the cosmic\nintelligence and the individual intelligence, and that the factor which\ndifferentiates the latter from the former is the presence of _individual_\nvolition. Now the business of Mental Science is to ascertain the relation\nof this individual power of volition to the great cosmic law which provides\nfor the maintenance and advancement of the race; and the point to be\ncarefully noted is that the power of individual volition is itself the\noutcome of the cosmic evolutionary principle at the point where it reaches\nits highest level. The effort of Nature has always been upwards from the\ntime when only the lowest forms of life peopled the globe, and it has now\nculminated in the production of a being with a mind capable of abstract\nreasoning and a brain fitted to be the physical instrument of such a mind.\nAt this stage the all-creating Life-principle reproduces itself in a form\ncapable of recognizing the working of the evolutionary law, and the unity\nand continuity of purpose running through the whole progression until now\nindicates, beyond a doubt, that the place of such a being in the universal\nscheme must be to introduce the operation of that factor which, up to this\npoint, has been, conspicuous by its absence--the factor, namely, of\nintelligent individual volition. The evolution which has brought us up to\nthis standpoint has worked by a cosmic law of averages; it has been a\nprocess in which the individual himself has not taken a conscious part. But\nbecause he is what he is, and leads the van of the evolutionary procession,\nif man is to evolve further, it can now only be by his own conscious\nco-operation with the law which has brought him up to the standpoint where\nhe is able to realize that such a law exists. His evolution in the future\nmust be by conscious participation in the great work, and this can only be\neffected by his own individual intelligence and effort. It is a process of\nintelligent growth. No one else can grow for us: we must each grow for\nourselves; and this intelligent growth consists in our increasing\nrecognition of the universal law, which has brought us as far as we have\nyet got, and of our own individual relation to that law, based upon the\nfact that we ourselves are the most advanced product of it. It is a great\nmaxim that Nature obeys us precisely in proportion as we first obey Nature.\nLet the electrician try to go counter to the principle that electricity\nmust always pass from a higher to a lower potential and he will effect\nnothing; but let him submit in all things to this one fundamental law, and\nhe can make whatever particular applications of electrical power he will.\n\nThese considerations show us that what differentiates the higher from the\nlower degree of intelligence is the recognition of its own self-hood, and\nthe more intelligent that recognition is, the greater will be the power.\nThe lower degree of self-recognition is that which only realizes itself as\nan entity separate from all other entities, as the _ego_ distinguished from\nthe _non-ego_. But the higher degree of self-recognition is that which,\nrealizing its own spiritual nature, sees in all other forms, not so much\nthe _non-ego_, or that which is not itself, as the _alter-ego_, or that\nwhich is itself in a different mode of expression. Now, it is this higher\ndegree of self-recognition that is the power by which the Mental Scientist\nproduces his results. For this reason it is imperative that he should\nclearly understand the difference between Form and Being; that the one is\nthe mode of the relative and, the mark of subjection to conditions, and\nthat the other is the truth of the absolute and is that which controls\nconditions.\n\nNow this higher recognition of self as an individualization of pure spirit\nmust of necessity control all modes of spirit which have not yet reached\nthe same level of self-recognition. These lower modes of spirit are in\nbondage to the law of their own being because they do not know the law;\nand, therefore, the individual who has attained to this knowledge can\ncontrol them through that law. But to understand this we must inquire a\nlittle further into the nature of spirit. I have already shown that the\ngrand scale of adaptation and adjustment of all parts of the cosmic scheme\nto one another exhibits the presence _somewhere_ of a marvellous\nintelligence, underlying the whole, and the question is, where is this\nintelligence to be found? Ultimately we can only conceive of it as inherent\nin some primordial substance which is the root of all those grosser modes\nof matter which are known to us, whether visible to the physical eye, or\nnecessarily inferred by science from their perceptible effects. It is that\npower which, in every species and in every individual, becomes that which\nthat species or individual is; and thus we can only conceive of it as a\nself-forming intelligence inherent in the ultimate substance of which each\nthing is a particular manifestation. That this primordial substance must be\nconsidered as self-forming by an inherent intelligence abiding in itself\nbecomes evident from the fact that intelligence is the essential quality of\nspirit; and if we were to conceive of the primordial substance as something\napart from spirit, then we should have to postulate some other power which\nis neither spirit nor matter, and originates both; but this is only putting\nthe idea of a self-evolving power a step further back and asserting the\nproduction of a lower grade of undifferentiated spirit by a higher, which\nis both a purely gratuitous assumption and a contradiction of any idea we\ncan form of undifferentiated spirit at all. However far back, therefore, we\nmay relegate the original starting-point, we cannot avoid the conclusion\nthat, at that point, spirit contains the primary substance in itself, which\nbrings us back to the common statement that it made everything out of\nnothing. We thus find two factors to the making of all things, Spirit\nand--Nothing; and the addition of Nothing to Spirit leaves _only_ spirit:\nx + 0 = x.\n\nFrom these considerations we see that the ultimate foundation of every form\nof matter is spirit, and hence that a universal intelligence subsists\nthroughout Nature inherent in every one of its manifestations. But this\ncryptic intelligence does not belong to the particular _form_ excepting in\nthe measure in which it is physically fitted for its concentration into\nself-recognizing individuality: it lies hidden in that primordial substance\nof which the visible form is a grosser manifestation. This primordial\nsubstance is a philosophical necessity, and we can only picture it to\nourselves as something infinitely finer than the atoms which are themselves\na philosophical inference of physical science: still, for want of a better\nword, we may conveniently speak of this primary intelligence inherent in\nthe very substance of things as the Atomic Intelligence. The term may,\nperhaps, be open to some objections, but it will serve our present purpose\nas distinguishing _this_ mode of spirit's intelligence from that of the\nopposite pole, or Individual Intelligence. This distinction should be\ncarefully noted because it is by the response of the atomic intelligence to\nthe individual intelligence that thought-power is able to produce results\non the material plane, as in the cure of disease by mental treatment, and\nthe like. Intelligence manifests itself by responsiveness, and the whole\naction of the cosmic mind in bringing the evolutionary process from its\nfirst beginnings up to its present human stage is nothing else but a\ncontinual intelligent response to the demand which each stage in the\nprogress has made for an adjustment between itself and its environment.\nSince, then, we have recognized the presence of a universal intelligence\npermeating all things, we must also recognize a corresponding\nresponsiveness hidden deep down in their nature and ready to be called into\naction when appealed to. All mental treatment depends on this\nresponsiveness of spirit in its lower degrees to higher degrees of itself.\nIt is here that the difference between the mental scientist and the\nuninstructed person comes in; the former knows of this responsiveness and\nmakes use of it, and the latter cannot use it because he does not know it.\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\nTHE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT.\n\n\nWe have now paved the way for understanding what is meant by \"the unity of\nthe spirit.\" In the first conception of spirit as the underlying origin of\nall things we see a universal substance which, at this stage, is not\ndifferentiated into any specific forms. This is not a question of some\nbygone time, but subsists at every moment of all time in the _innermost_\nnature of all being; and when we see this, we see that the division between\none specific form and another has below it a deep essential unity, which\nacts as the supporter of all the several forms of individuality arising out\nof it. And as our thought penetrates deeper into the nature of this\nall-producing spiritual substance we see that it cannot be limited to any\none portion of space, but must be limitless as space itself, and that the\nidea of any portion of space where it is not is inconceivable. It is one of\nthose intuitive perceptions from which the human mind can never get away\nthat this primordial, all-generating living spirit must be commensurate\nwith infinitude, and we can therefore never think of it otherwise than as\nuniversal or infinite. Now it is a mathematical truth that the infinite\nmust be a unity. You cannot have two infinites, for then neither would be\ninfinite, each would be limited by the other, nor can you split the\ninfinite up into fractions. The infinite is mathematically essential unity.\nThis is a point on which too much stress cannot be laid, for there follow\nfrom it the most important consequences. Unity, as such, can be neither\nmultiplied nor divided, for either operation destroys the unity. By\nmultiplying, we produce a plurality of units of the same scale as the\noriginal; and by dividing, we produce a plurality of units of a smaller\nscale; and a plurality of units is not unity but multiplicity. Therefore if\nwe would penetrate below the outward nature of the individual to that\ninnermost principle of his being from which his individuality takes its\nrise, we can do so only by passing beyond the conception of individual\nexistence into that of the unity of universal being. This may appear to be\na merely philosophical abstraction, but the student who would produce\npractical results must realize that these abstract generalizations are the\nfoundation of the practical work he is going to do.\n\nNow the great fact to be recognized about a unity is that, _because_ it is\na single unit, wherever it is at all the _whole_ of it must be. The moment\nwe allow our mind to wander off to the idea of extension in space and say\nthat one part of the unit is here and another there, we have descended from\nthe idea of unity into that of parts or fractions of a single unit, which\nis to pass into the idea of a multiplicity of smaller units, and in that\ncase we are dealing with the relative, or the relation subsisting between\ntwo or more entities which are therefore _limited by each other_, and so\nhave passed out of the region of simple unity which is the absolute. It is,\ntherefore, a mathematical necessity that, because the originating Life-\nprinciple is infinite, it is a single unit, and consequently, wherever it\nis at all, the _whole_ of it must be present. But because it is _infinite_,\nor limitless, it is everywhere, and therefore it follows that the _whole_\nof spirit must be present at every point in space at the same moment.\nSpirit is thus omnipresent _in its entirety_, and it is accordingly\nlogically correct that at every moment of time _all_ spirit is concentrated\nat any point in space that we may choose to fix our thought upon. This is\nthe fundamental fact of all being, and it is for this reason that I have\nprepared the way for it by laying down the relation between spirit and\nmatter as that between idea and form, on the one hand the absolute from\nwhich the elements of time and space are entirely absent, and on the other\nthe relative which is entirely dependent on those elements. This great fact\nis that pure spirit continually subsists in the absolute, whether in a\ncorporeal body or not; and from it all the phenomena of being flow, whether\non the mental plane or the physical. The knowledge of this fact regarding\nspirit is the basis of all conscious spiritual operation, and therefore in\nproportion to our increasing recognition of it our power of producing\noutward visible results by the action of our thought will grow. The whole\nis greater than its part, and therefore, if, by our recognition of this\nunity, we can concentrate _all_ spirit into any given point at any moment,\nwe thereby include any individualization of it that we may wish to deal\nwith. The practical importance of this conclusion is too obvious to need\nenlarging upon.\n\nPure spirit is the Life-principle considered apart from the matrix in which\nit takes relation to time and space in a particular form. In this aspect it\nis pure intelligence undifferentiated into individuality. As pure\nintelligence it is infinite responsiveness and susceptibility. As devoid of\nrelation to time and space it is devoid of individual personality. It is,\ntherefore, in this aspect a purely impersonal element upon which, by reason\nof its inherent intelligence and susceptibility, we can impress any\nrecognition of personality that we will. These are the great facts that the\nmental scientist works with, and the student will do well to ponder deeply\non their significance and on the responsibilities which their realization\nmust necessarily carry with it.\n\n\n\n\nIV.\n\nSUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE MIND.\n\n\nUp to this point it has been necessary to lay the foundations of the\nscience by the statement of highly abstract general principles which we\nhave reached by purely metaphysical reasoning. We now pass on to the\nconsideration of certain natural laws which have been established by a long\nseries of experiments and observations, the full meaning and importance of\nwhich will become clear when we see their application to the general\nprinciples which have hitherto occupied our attention. The phenomena of\nhypnosis are now so fully recognized as established scientific facts that\nit is quite superfluous to discuss the question of their credibility. Two\ngreat medical schools have been founded upon them, and in some countries\nthey have become the subject of special legislation. The question before us\nat the present day is, not as to the credibility of the facts, but as to\nthe proper inferences to be drawn from them, and a correct apprehension of\nthese inferences is one of the most valuable aids to the mental scientist,\nfor it confirms the conclusions of purely _a priori_ reasoning by an array\nof experimental instances which places the correctness of those conclusions\nbeyond doubt.\n\nThe great truth which the science of hypnotism has brought to light is the\ndual nature of the human mind. Much conflict exists between different\nwriters as to whether this duality results from the presence of two\nactually separate minds in the one man, or in the action of the same mind\nin the employment of different functions. This is one of those distinctions\nwithout a difference which are so prolific a source of hindrance to the\nopening out of truth. A man must be a single individuality to be a man at\nall, and, so, the net result is the same whether we conceive of his varied\nmodes of mental action as proceeding from a set of separate minds strung,\nso to speak, on the thread of his one individuality and each adapted to a\nparticular use, or as varied functions of a single mind: in either case we\nare dealing with a single individuality, and how we may picture the\nwheel-work of the mental mechanism is merely a question of what picture\nwill bring the nature of its action home to us most clearly. Therefore, as\na matter of convenience, I shall in these lectures speak of this dual\naction as though it proceeded from two minds, an outer and an inner, and\nthe inner mind we will call the subjective mind and the outer the\nobjective, by which names the distinction is most frequently indicated in\nthe literature of the subject.\n\nA long series of careful experiments by highly-trained observers, some of\nthem men of world-wide reputation, has fully established certain remarkable\ndifferences between the action of the subjective and that of the objective\nmind which may be briefly stated as follows. The subjective mind is only\nable to reason _deductively_ and not inductively, while the objective mind\ncan do both. Deductive reasoning is the pure syllogism which shows why a\nthird proposition must necessarily result if two others are assumed, but\nwhich does not help us to determine whether the two initial statements are\ntrue or not. To determine this is the province of inductive reasoning which\ndraws its conclusions from the observation of a series of facts. The\nrelation of the two modes of reasoning is that, first by observing a\nsufficient number of instances, we inductively reach the conclusion that a\ncertain principle is of general application, and then we enter upon the\ndeductive process by assuming the truth of this principle and determining\nwhat result must follow in a particular case on the hypothesis of its\ntruth. Thus deductive reasoning proceeds on the assumption of the\ncorrectness of certain hypotheses or suppositions with which it sets out:\nit is not concerned with the truth or falsity of those suppositions, but\nonly with the question as to what results must necessarily follow supposing\nthem to be true. Inductive reasoning; on the other hand, is the process by\nwhich we compare a number of separate instances with one another until we\nsee the common factor that gives rise to them all. Induction proceeds by\nthe comparison of facts, and deduction by the application of universal\nprinciples. Now it is the deductive method only which is followed by the\nsubjective mind. Innumerable experiments on persons in the hypnotic state\nhave shown that the subjective mind is utterly incapable of making the\nselection and comparison which are necessary to the inductive process, but\nwill accept any suggestion, however false, but having once accepted any\nsuggestion, it is strictly logical in deducing the proper conclusions from\nit, and works out every suggestion to the minutest fraction of the results\nwhich flow from it.\n\nAs a consequence of this it follows that the subjective mind is entirely\nunder the control of the objective mind. With the utmost fidelity it\nreproduces and works out to its final consequences whatever the objective\nmind impresses upon it; and the facts of hypnotism show that ideas can be\nimpressed on the subjective mind by the objective mind of another as well\nas by that of its own individuality. This is a most important point, for it\nis on this amenability to suggestion by the thought of another that all the\nphenomena of healing, whether present or absent, of telepathy and the like,\ndepend. Under the control of the practised hypnotist the very personality\nof the subject becomes changed for the time being; he believes himself to\nbe whatever the operator tells him he is: he is a swimmer breasting the\nwaves, a bird flying in the air, a soldier in the tumult of battle, an\nIndian stealthily tracking his victim: in short, for the time being, he\nidentifies himself with any personality that is impressed upon him by the\nwill of the operator, and acts the part with inimitable accuracy. But the\nexperiments of hypnotism go further than this, and show the existence in\nthe subjective mind of powers far transcending any exercised by the\nobjective mind through the medium of the physical senses; powers of\nthought-reading, of thought-transference, of clairvoyance, and the like,\nall of which are frequently manifested when the patient is brought into the\nhigher mesmeric state; and we have thus experimental proof of the existence\nin ourselves of transcendental faculties the full development and conscious\ncontrol of which would place us in a perfectly new sphere of life.\n\nBut it should be noted that the control must be _our own_ and not that of\nany external intelligence whether in the flesh or out of it.\n\nBut perhaps the most important fact which hypnotic experiments have\ndemonstrated is that the subjective mind is the builder of the body. The\nsubjective entity in the patient is able to diagnose the character of the\ndisease from which he is suffering and to point out suitable remedies,\nindicating a physiological knowledge exceeding that of the most highly\ntrained physicians, and also a knowledge of the correspondences between\ndiseased conditions of the bodily organs and the material remedies which\ncan afford relief. And from this it is but a step further to those numerous\ninstances in which it entirely dispenses with the use of material remedies\nand itself works directly on the organism, so that complete restoration to\nhealth follows as the result of the suggestions of perfect soundness made\nby the operator to the patient while in the hypnotic state.\n\nNow these are facts fully established by hundreds of experiments conducted\nby a variety of investigators in different parts of the world, and from\nthem we may draw two inferences of the highest importance: one, that the\nsubjective mind is in itself absolutely impersonal, and the other that it\nis the builder of the body, or in other words it is the creative power in\nthe individual. That it is impersonal in itself is shown by its readiness\nto assume any personality the hypnotist chooses to impress upon it; and the\nunavoidable inference is that its realization of personality proceeds from\nits association with the particular objective mind of its own\nindividuality. Whatever personality the objective mind impresses upon it,\nthat personality it assumes and acts up to; and since it is the builder of\nthe body it will build up a body in correspondence with the personality\nthus impressed upon it. These two laws of the subjective mind form the\nfoundation of the axiom that our body represents the aggregate of our\nbeliefs. If our fixed belief is that the body is subject to all sorts of\ninfluences beyond our control, and that this, that, or the other symptom\nshows that such an uncontrollable influence is at work upon us, then this\nbelief is impressed upon the subjective mind, which by the law of its\nnature accepts it without question and proceeds to fashion bodily\nconditions in accordance with this belief. Again, if our fixed belief is\nthat certain material remedies are the only means of cure, then we find in\nthis belief the foundation of all medicine. There is nothing unsound in the\ntheory of medicine; it is the strictly logical correspondence with the\nmeasure of knowledge which those who rely on it are as yet able to\nassimilate, and it acts accurately in accordance with their belief that in\na large number of cases medicine will do good, but also in many instances\nit fails. Therefore, for those who have not yet reached a more interior\nperception of the law of Nature, the healing agency of medicine is a most\nvaluable aid to the alleviation of physical maladies. The error to be\ncombated is not the belief that, in its own way, medicine is capable of\ndoing good, but the belief that there is no higher or better way.\n\nThen, on the same principle, if we realize that the subjective mind is the\nbuilder of the body, and that the body is subject to no influences except\nthose which reach it through the subjective mind, then what we have to do\nis to impress _this_ upon the subjective mind and habitually think of it as\na fountain of perpetual Life, which is continually renovating the body by\nbuilding in strong and healthy material, in the most complete independence\nof any influences of any sort, save those of our own desire impressed upon\nour own subjective mind by our own thought. When once we fully grasp these\nconsiderations we shall see that it is just as easy to externalize healthy\nconditions of body as the contrary. Practically the process amounts to a\nbelief in our own power of life; and since this belief, if it be thoroughly\ndomiciled within us, will necessarily produce a correspondingly healthy\nbody, we should spare no pains to convince ourselves that there are sound\nand reasonable grounds for holding it. To afford a solid basis for this\nconviction is the purpose of Mental Science.\n\n\n\n\nV.\n\nFURTHER CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE MIND.\n\n\nAn intelligent consideration of the phenomena of hypnotism will show us\nthat what we call the hypnotic state is the _normal_ state of the\nsubjective mind. It _always_ conceives of itself in accordance with some\nsuggestion conveyed to it, either consciously or unconsciously to the mode\nof objective mind which governs it, and it gives rise to corresponding\nexternal results. The abnormal nature of the conditions induced by\nexperimental hypnotism is in the removal of the normal control held by the\nindividual's own objective mind over his subjective mind and the\nsubstitution of some other control for it, and thus we may say that the\nnormal characteristic of the subjective mind is its perpetual action in\naccordance with some sort of suggestion. It becomes therefore a question of\nthe highest importance to determine in every case what the nature of the\nsuggestion shall be and from what source it shall proceed; but before\nconsidering the sources of suggestion we must realize more fully the place\ntaken by subjective mind in the order of Nature.\n\nIf the student has followed what has been said regarding the presence of\nintelligent spirit pervading all space and permeating all matter, he will\nnow have little difficulty in recognizing this all-pervading spirit as\nuniversal subjective mind. That it cannot _as universal mind_ have the\nqualities of objective mind is very obvious. The universal mind is the\ncreative power throughout Nature; and as the originating power it must\nfirst give rise to the various _forms_ in which objective mind recognizes\nits own individuality, before these individual minds can re-act upon it;\nand hence, as pure spirit or _first cause_, it cannot possibly be anything\nelse than subjective mind; and the fact which has been abundantly proved by\nexperiment that the subjective mind is the builder of the body shows us\nthat the power of creating by growth from within is the essential\ncharacteristic of the subjective mind. Hence, both from experiment and from\n_a priori_ reasoning, we may say that where-ever we find creative power at\nwork there we are in the presence of subjective mind, whether it be working\non the grand scale of the cosmos, or on the miniature scale of the\nindividual. We may therefore lay it down as a principle that the universal\nall-permeating intelligence, which has been considered in the second and\nthird sections, is purely subjective mind, and therefore follows the law of\nsubjective mind, namely that it is amenable to any suggestion, and will\ncarry out any suggestion that is impressed upon it to its most rigorously\nlogical consequences. The incalculable importance of this truth may not\nperhaps strike the student at first sight, but a little consideration will\nshow him the enormous possibilities that are stored up in it, and in the\nconcluding section I shall briefly touch upon the very serious conclusions\nresulting from it. For the present it will be sufficient to realize that\nthe subjective mind in ourselves is _the same_ subjective mind which is at\nwork throughout the universe giving rise to the infinitude of natural forms\nwith which we are surrounded, and in like manner giving rise _to ourselves\nalso_. It may be called the supporter of our individuality; and we may\nloosely speak of our individual subjective mind as our personal share in\nthe universal mind. This, of course, does not imply the splitting up of the\nuniversal mind into fractions, and it is to avoid this error that I have\ndiscussed the essential unity of spirit in the third section, but in order\nto avoid too highly abstract conceptions in the present stage of the\nstudent's progress we may conveniently employ the idea of a personal share\nin the universal subjective mind.\n\nTo realize our individual subjective mind in this manner will help us to\nget over the great metaphysical difficulty which meets us in our endeavour\nto make conscious use of first cause, in other words to create external\nresults by the power of our own thought. Ultimately there can be only one\nfirst cause which is the universal mind, but because it is universal it\ncannot, _as universal_, act on the plane of the individual and particular.\nFor it to do so would be for it to cease to be universal and therefore\ncease to be the creative power which we wish to employ. On the other hand,\nthe fact that we are working for a specific definite object implies our\nintention to use this universal power in application to a particular\npurpose, and thus we find ourselves involved in the paradox of seeking to\nmake the universal act on the plane of the particular. We want to effect a\njunction between the two extremes of the scale of Nature, the innermost\ncreative spirit and a particular external form. Between these two is a\ngreat gulf, and the question is how is it to be bridged over. It is here,\nthen, that the conception of our individual subjective mind as our personal\nshare in the universal subjective mind affords the means of meeting the\ndifficulty, for on the one hand it is in immediate connection with the\nuniversal mind, and on the other it is immediate connection with the\nindividual objective, or intellectual mind; and this in its turn is in\nimmediate connection with the world of externalization, which is\nconditioned in time and space; and thus the relation between the subjective\nand objective minds in the individual forms the bridge which is needed to\nconnect the two extremities of the scale.\n\nThe individual subjective mind may therefore be regarded as the organ of\nthe Absolute in precisely the same way that the objective mind is the organ\nof the Relative, and it is in order to regulate our use of these two organs\nthat it is necessary to understand what the terms \"absolute\" and \"relative\"\nactually mean. The absolute is that idea of a thing which contemplates it\nas existing _in itself_ and not in relation to something else, that is to\nsay, which contemplates the essence of it; and the relative is that idea of\na thing which contemplates it as related to other things, that is to say as\ncircumscribed by a certain environment. The absolute is the region of\ncauses, and the relative is the region of conditions; and hence, if we wish\nto control conditions, this can only be done by our thought-power operating\non the plane of the absolute, which it can do only through the medium of\nthe subjective mind. The conscious use of the creative power of thought\nconsists in the attainment of the power of Thinking in the Absolute, and\nthis can only be attained by a clear conception of the interaction between\nour different mental functions. For this purpose the student cannot too\nstrongly impress upon himself that subjective mind, on whatever scale, is\nintensely sensitive to suggestion, and as creative power works accurately\nto the externalization of that suggestion which is most deeply impressed\nupon it. If then, we would take any idea out of the realm of the relative,\nwhere it is limited and restricted by conditions imposed upon it through\nsurrounding circumstances, and transfer it to the realm of the absolute\nwhere it is not thus limited, a right recognition of our mental\nconstitution will enable us to do this by a clearly defined method.\n\nThe object of our desire is necessarily first conceived by us as bearing\nsome relation to existing circumstances, which may, or may not, appear\nfavourable to it; and what we want to do is to eliminate the element of\ncontingency and attain something which is certain in itself. To do this is\nto work upon the plane of the absolute, and for this purpose we must\nendeavour to impress upon our subjective mind the idea of that which we\ndesire quite apart from any conditions. This separation from the elements\nof condition implies the elimination of the idea of _time_, and\nconsequently we must think of the thing as already in actual existence.\nUnless we do this we are not consciously operating upon the plane of the\nabsolute, and are therefore not employing the creative power of our\nthought. The simplest practical method of gaining the habit of thinking in\nthis manner is to conceive the existence in the spiritual world of a\nspiritual prototype of every existing thing, which becomes the root of the\ncorresponding external existence. If we thus habituate ourselves to look on\nthe spiritual prototype as the essential being of the thing, and the\nmaterial form as the growth of this prototype into outward expression, then\nwe shall see that the initial step to the production of any external fact\nmust be the creation of its spiritual prototype. This prototype, being\npurely spiritual, can only be formed by the operation of _thought_, and in\norder to have substance on the spiritual plane it _must_ be thought of as\nactually existing there. This conception has been elaborated by Plato in\nhis doctrine of archetypal ideas, and by Swedenborg in his doctrine of\ncorrespondences; and a still greater teacher has said \"All things\nwhatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye _have_ received them, and\nye _shall_ receive them.\" (Mark xi. 24, R.V.) The difference of the tenses\nin this passage is remarkable. The speaker bids us first to believe that\nour desire _has_ already been fulfilled, that it is a thing already\naccomplished, and then its accomplishment _will_ follow as a thing in the\nfuture. This is nothing else than a concise direction for making use of the\ncreative power of thought by impressing upon the universal subjective mind\nthe particular thing which we desire as an already existing fact. In\nfollowing this direction we are thinking on the plane of the absolute and\neliminating from our minds all consideration of conditions, which imply\nlimitation and the possibility of adverse contingencies; and we are thus\nplanting a seed which, if left undisturbed, will infallibly germinate into\nexternal fruition.\n\nBy thus making intelligent use of our subjective mind, we, so to speak,\ncreate a _nucleus_, which is no sooner created than it begins to exercise\nan attractive force, drawing to itself material of a like character with\nits own, and if this process is allowed to go on undisturbed, it will\ncontinue until an external form corresponding to the nature of the nucleus\ncomes out into manifestation on the plane of the objective and relative.\nThis is the universal method of Nature on every plane. Some of the most\nadvanced thinkers in modern physical science, in the endeavour to probe the\ngreat mystery of the first origin of the world, have postulated the\nformation of what they call \"vortex rings\" formed from an infinitely fine\nprimordial substance. They tell us that if such a ring be once formed on\nthe minutest scale and set rotating, then, since it would be moving in pure\nether and subject to no friction, it must according to all known laws of\nphysics be indestructible and its motion perpetual. Let two such rings\napproach each other, and by the law of attraction, they would coalesce into\na whole, and so on until manifested matter as we apprehend it with our\nexternal senses, is at last formed. Of course no one has ever seen these\nrings with the physical eye. They are one of those abstractions which\nresult if we follow out the observed law of physics and the unavoidable\nsequences of mathematics to their necessary consequences. We cannot account\nfor the things that we _can_ see unless we assume the existence of other\nthings which we _cannot_; and the \"vortex theory\" is one of these\nassumptions. This theory has not been put forward by mental scientists but\nby purely physical scientists as the ultimate conclusion to which their\nresearches have led them, and this conclusion is that all the innumerable\nforms of Nature have their origin in the infinitely minute nucleus of the\nvortex ring, by whatever means the vortex ring may have received its\ninitial impulse, a question with which physical science, as such, is not\nconcerned.\n\nAs the vortex theory accounts for the formation of the inorganic world, so\ndoes biology account for the formation of the living organism. That also\nhas its origin in a primary nucleus which, as soon as it is established,\noperates as a centre of attraction for the formation of all those physical\norgans of which the perfect individual is composed. The science of\nembryology shows that this rule holds good without exception throughout the\nwhole range of the animal world, including man; and botany shows the same\nprinciple at work throughout the vegetable world. All branches of physical\nscience demonstrate the fact that every completed manifestation, of\nwhatever kind and on whatever scale, is started by the establishment of a\nnucleus, infinitely small but endowed with an unquenchable energy of\nattraction, causing it to steadily increase in power and definiteness of\npurpose, until the process of growth is completed and the matured form\nstands out as an accomplished fact. Now if this be the universal method of\nNature, there is nothing unnatural in supposing that it must begin its\noperation at a stage further back than the formation of the material\nnucleus. As soon as that is called into being it begins to operate by the\nlaw of attraction on the material plane; but what is the force which\noriginates the material nucleus? Let a recent work on physical science give\nus the answer; \"In its ultimate essence, energy may be incomprehensible by\nus except as an exhibition of the direct operation of that which we call\nMind or Will.\" The quotation is from a course of lectures on \"Waves in\nWater, Air and \u00c6ther,\" delivered in 1902, at the Royal Institution, by J.\nA. Fleming. Here, then, is the testimony of physical science that the\noriginating energy is Mind or Will; and we are, therefore, not only making\na logical deduction from certain unavoidable intuitions of the human mind,\nbut are also following on the lines of the most advanced physical science,\nwhen we say that the action of Mind plants that nucleus which, if allowed\nto grow undisturbed, will eventually attract to itself all the conditions\nnecessary for its manifestation in outward visible form. Now the only\naction of Mind is Thought; and it is for this reason that by our thoughts\nwe create corresponding external conditions, because we thereby create the\nnucleus which attracts to itself its own correspondences in due order until\nthe finished work is manifested on the external plane. This is according to\nthe strictly scientific conception of the universal law of growth; and we\nmay therefore briefly sum up the whole argument by saying that our thought\nof anything forms a spiritual prototype of it, thus constituting a nucleus\nor centre of attraction for all conditions necessary to its eventual\nexternalization by a law of growth inherent in the prototype itself.\n\n\n\n\nVI.\n\nTHE LAW OF GROWTH.\n\n\nA CORRECT understanding of the law of growth is of the highest importance\nto the student of Mental Science. The great fact to be realized regarding\nNature is that it is natural. We may pervert the order of Nature, but it\nwill prevail in the long run, returning, as Horace says, by the back door\neven though we drive it out with a pitchfork; and the beginning, the\nmiddle, and the end of the law of Nature is the principle of growth from a\nvitality inherent in the entity itself. If we realize this from the outset\nwe shall not undo our own work by endeavouring to _force_ things to become\nthat which by their own nature they are not. For this reason when the Bible\nsays that \"he who believeth shall not make haste,\" it is enunciating a\ngreat natural principle that success, depends on our using, and not\nopposing, the universal law of growth. No doubt the greater the vitality we\nput into the germ, which we have agreed to call the spiritual prototype,\nthe quicker it will germinate; but this is simply because by a more\nrealizing conception we put more growing-power into the seed than we do by\na feebler conception. Our mistakes always eventually resolve themselves\ninto distrusting the law of growth. Either we fancy we can hasten it by\nsome exertion of our own from _without_, and are thus led into hurry and\nanxiety, not to say sometimes into the employment, of grievously wrong\nmethods; or else we give up all hope and so deny the germinating power of\nthe seed we have planted. The result in either case is the same, for in\neither case we are in effect forming a fresh spiritual prototype of an\nopposite character to our desire, which therefore neutralizes the one first\nformed, and disintegrates it and usurps its place. The law is always the\nsame, that our Thought forms a spiritual prototype which, if left\nundisturbed, will reproduce itself in external circumstances; the only\ndifference is in the sort of prototype we form, and thus evil is brought to\nus by precisely the same law as good.\n\nThese considerations will greatly simplify our ideas of life. We have no\nlonger to consider two forces, but only one, as being the cause of all\nthings; the difference between good and evil resulting simply from the\ndirection in which this force is made to flow. It is a universal law that\nif we reverse the action of a cause we at the same time reverse the effect.\nWith the same apparatus we can commence by mechanical motion which will\ngenerate electricity, or we can commence with electricity which will\ngenerate mechanical motion; or to take a simple arithmetical instance: if\n10/2 = 5, then 10/5 = 2; and therefore if we once recognize the power of\nthought to produce any results at all, we shall see that the law by which\nnegative thought produces negative results is the same by which positive\nthought produces positive results. Therefore all our distrust of the law of\ngrowth, whether shown in the anxious endeavour to bring pressure to bear\nfrom without, or in allowing despair to take the place of cheerful\nexpectation, is reversing the action of the original cause and consequently\nreversing the nature of the results. It is for this reason that the Bible,\nwhich is the most deeply occult of all books, continually lays so much\nstress upon the efficiency of faith and the destructive influence of\nunbelief; and in like manner, all books on every branch of spiritual\nscience emphatically warn us against the admission of doubt or fear. They\nare the inversion of the principle which builds up, and they are therefore\nthe principle which pulls down; but the Law itself never changes, and it is\non the unchangeableness of the law that all Mental Science is founded. We\nare accustomed to realize the unchangeableness of natural law in our every\nday life, and it should therefore not be difficult to realize that the same\nunchangeableness of law which obtains on the visible side of nature obtains\non the invisible side as well. The variable factor is, not the law, but our\nown volition; and it is by combining this variable factor with the\ninvariable one that we can produce the various results we desire. The\nprinciple of growth is that of inherent vitality in the seed itself, and\nthe operations of the gardener have their exact analogue in Mental Science.\nWe do not _put_ the self-expansive vitality into the seed, but we must sow\nit, and we may also, so to speak, water it by quiet concentrated\ncontemplation of our desire as an actually accomplished fact. But we must\ncarefully remove from such contemplation any idea of a strenuous effort on\nour part to _make_ the seed grow. Its efficacy is in helping to keep out\nthose negative thoughts of doubt which would plant tares among our wheat,\nand therefore, instead of anything of effort, such contemplation should be\naccompanied by a feeling of pleasure and restfulness in foreseeing the\ncertain accomplishment of our desires. This is that making our requests\nknown to God _with thanksgiving_ which St. Paul recommends, and it has its\nreason in that perfect wholeness of the Law of Being which only needs our\nrecognition of it to be used by us to any extent we wish.\n\nSome people possess the power of visualization, or making mental pictures\nof things, in a greater degree than others, and by such this faculty may\nadvantageously be employed to facilitate their realization of the working\nof the Law. But those who do not possess this faculty in any marked degree,\nneed not be discouraged by their want of it, for visualization is not the\nonly way of realizing that the law is at work on the invisible plane. Those\nwhose mental bias is towards physical science should realize this Law of\nGrowth as the creative force throughout all nature; and those who have a\nmathematical turn of mind may reflect that all solids are generated from\nthe movement of a point, which, as our old friend Euclid tells us, is that\nwhich has no parts nor magnitude, and is therefore as complete an\nabstraction as any spiritual nucleus could be. To use the apostolic words,\nwe are dealing with the substance of things not seen, and we have to attain\nthat habit of mind by which we shall see its reality and feel that we are\nmentally manipulating the only substance there ultimately is, and of which\nall visible things are only different modes. We must therefore regard our\nmental creations as spiritual realities and then implicitly trust the Law\nof Growth to do the rest.\n\n\n\n\nVII.\n\nRECEPTIVITY.\n\n\nIn order to lay the foundations for practical work, the student must\nendeavour to get a clear conception of what is meant by the intelligence of\nundifferentiated spirit. We want to grasp the idea of intelligence apart\nfrom individuality, an idea which is rather apt to elude us until we grow\naccustomed to it. It is the failure to realize this quality of spirit that\nhas given rise to all the theological errors that have brought bitterness\ninto the world and has been prominent amongst the causes which have\nretarded the true development of mankind. To accurately convey this\nconception in words, is perhaps, impossible, and to attempt definition is\nto introduce that very idea of limitation which is our object to avoid. It\nis a matter of feeling rather than of definition; yet some endeavour must\nbe made to indicate the direction in which we must feel for this great\ntruth if we are to find it. The idea is that of realizing personality\nwithout that selfhood which differentiates one individual from another. \"I\nam not that other because I am myself\"--this is the definition of\nindividual selfhood; but it necessarily imparts the idea of limitation,\nbecause the recognition of any other individuality at once affirms a point\nat which our own individuality ceases and the other begins. Now this mode\nof recognition cannot be attributed to the Universal Mind. For it to\nrecognize a point where itself ceased and something else began would be to\nrecognize itself as _not_ universal; for the meaning of universality is the\nincluding of _all_ things, and therefore for this intelligence to recognize\nanything as being _outside itself_ would be a denial of its own being. We\nmay therefore say without hesitation that, whatever may be the nature of\nits intelligence, it must be entirely devoid of the element of\nself-recognition _as an individual personality_ on any scale whatever. Seen\nin this light it is at once clear that the originating all-pervading Spirit\nis the grand impersonal principle of Life which gives rise to all the\nparticular manifestations of Nature. Its absolute impersonalness, in the\nsense of the entire absence of any consciousness of _individual_ selfhood,\nis a point on which it is impossible to insist too strongly. The\nattributing of an impossible individuality to the Universal Mind is one of\nthe two grand errors which we find sapping the foundations of religion and\nphilosophy in all ages. The other consists in rushing to the opposite\nextreme and denying the quality of personal intelligence to the Universal\nMind. The answer to this error remains, as of old, in the simple question,\n\"He that made the eye shall He not see? He that planted the ear shall He\nnot hear?\"--or to use a popular proverb, \"You cannot get out of a bag more\nthan there is in it;\" and consequently the fact that we ourselves are\ncentres of personal intelligence is proof that the infinite, from which\nthese centres are concentrated, must be infinite intelligence, and thus we\ncannot avoid attributing to it the two factors which constitute\npersonality, namely, intelligence and volition. We are therefore brought to\nthe conclusion that this universally diffused essence, which we might think\nof as a sort of spiritual protoplasm, must possess all the qualities of\npersonality without that conscious recognition of self which constitutes\nseparate individuality: and since the word \"personality\" has became so\nassociated in our ordinary talk with the idea of \"individuality\" it will\nperhaps be better to coin a new word, and speak of the personalness of the\nUniversal Mind as indicating its personal _quality_, apart from\nindividuality. We must realize that this universal spirit permeates all\nspace and all manifested substance, just as physical scientists tell us\nthat the ether does, and that wherever it is, there it must carry with it\nall that it is in its own being; and we shall then see that we are in the\nmidst of an ocean of undifferentiated yet intelligent Life, above, below,\nand all around, and permeating ourselves both mentally and corporeally, and\nall other beings as well.\n\nGradually as we come to realize the truth of this statement, our eyes will\nbegin to open to its immense significance. It means that all Nature is\npervaded by an interior personalness, infinite in its potentialities of\nintelligence, responsiveness, and power of expression, and only waiting to\nbe called into activity by our recognition of it. By the terms of its\nnature it can respond to us only as we recognize it. If we are at that\nintellectual level where we can see nothing but chance governing the world,\nthen this underlying universal mind will present to us nothing but a\nfortuitous confluence of forces without any intelligible order. If we are\nsufficiently advanced to see that such a confluence could only produce a\nchaos, and not a cosmos, then our conceptions expand to the idea of\nuniversal Law, and we find _this_ to be the nature of the all-underlying\nprinciple. We have made an immense advance from the realm of mere accident\ninto a world where there are definite principles on which we can calculate\nwith certainty _when we know them_. But here is the crucial point. The laws\nof the universe are there, but we are ignorant of them, and only through\nexperience gained by repeated failures can we get any insight into the laws\nwith which we have to deal. How painful each step and how slow the\nprogress! \u00c6ons upon \u00e6ons would not suffice to grasp all the laws of the\nuniverse in their totality, not in the visible world only, but also in the\nworld of the unseen; each failure to know the true law implies suffering\narising from our ignorant breach of it; and thus, since Nature is infinite,\nwe are met by the paradox that we must in some way contrive to compass the\nknowledge of the infinite with our individual intelligence, and we must\nperform a pilgrimage along an unceasing Via Dolorosa beneath the lash of\nthe inexorable Law until we find the solution to the problem. But it will\nbe asked, May we not go on until at last we attain the possession of all\nknowledge? People do not realize what is meant by \"the infinite,\" or they\nwould not ask such questions. The infinite is that which is limitless and\nexhaustless. Imagine the vastest capacity you will, and having filled it\nwith the infinite, what remains of the infinite is just as infinite as\nbefore. To the mathematician this may be put very clearly. Raise _x_ to any\npower you will, and however vast may be the disparity between it and the\nlower powers of _x_, both are equally incommensurate with _x^n._ The\nuniversal reign of Law is a magnificent truth; it is one of the two great\npillars of the universe symbolized by the two pillars that stood at the\nentrance to Solomon's temple: it is Jachin, but Jachin must be\nequilibriated by Boaz.\n\nIt is an enduring truth, which can never be altered, that every infraction\nof the Law of Nature must carry its punitive consequences with it. We can\nnever get beyond the range of cause and effect. There is no escaping from\nthe law of punishment, except by knowledge. If we know a law of Nature and\nwork with it, we shall find it our unfailing friend, ever ready to serve\nus, and never rebuking us for past failures; but if we ignorantly or\nwilfully transgress it, it is our implacable enemy, until we again become\nobedient to it; and therefore the only redemption from perpetual pain and\nservitude is by a self-expansion which can grasp infinitude itself. How is\nthis to be accomplished? By our progress to that kind and degree of\nintelligence by which we realize the inherent _personalness_ of the divine\nall-pervading Life, which is at once the Law and the Substance of all that\nis. Well said the Jewish rabbis of old, \"The Law is a Person.\" When we once\nrealize that the universal Life and the universal Law are one with the\nuniversal Personalness, then we have established the pillar Boaz as the\nneeded complement to Jachin; and when we find the common point in which\nthese two unite, we have raised the Royal Arch through which we may\ntriumphantly enter the Temple. We must dissociate the Universal\nPersonalness from every conception of individuality. The universal can\nnever be the individual: that would be a contradiction in terms. But\nbecause the universal personalness is the root of all individual\npersonalities, it finds its highest expression in response to those who\nrealize its personal nature. And it is this recognition that solves the\nseemingly insoluble paradox. The only way to attain that knowledge of the\nInfinite Law which will change the Via Dolorosa into the Path of Joy is to\nembody in ourselves a _principle_ of knowledge commensurate with the\ninfinitude of that which is to be known; and this is accomplished by\nrealizing that, infinite as the law itself, is a universal Intelligence in\nthe midst of which we float as in a living ocean. Intelligence without\nindividual personality, but which, in producing us, concentrates itself\ninto the personal individualities which we are. What should be the relation\nof such an intelligence towards us? Not one of favouritism: not any more\nthan the Law can it respect one person above another, for itself is the\nroot and support for each alike. Not one of refusal to our advances; for\nwithout individuality it can have no personal object of its own to conflict\nwith ours; and since it is itself the origin of all individual\nintelligence, it cannot be shut off by inability to understand. By the very\nterms of its being, therefore, this infinite, underlying, all-producing\nMind must be ready immediately to respond to all who realize their true\nrelation to it. As the very principle of Life itself it must be infinitely\nsusceptible to feeling, and consequently it will reproduce with absolute\naccuracy whatever conception of itself we impress upon it; and hence if we\nrealize the human mind as that stage in the evolution of the cosmic order\nat which an individuality has arisen capable of expressing, not merely the\nlivingness, but also the personalness of the universal underlying spirit,\nthen we see that its most perfect mode of self-expression must be by\nidentifying itself with these individual personalities.\n\nThe identification is, of course, limited by the measure of the individual\nintelligence, meaning, not merely the intellectual perception of the\nsequence of cause and effect, but also that indescribable reciprocity of\n_feeling_ by which we instinctively recognize something in another making\nthem akin to ourselves; and so it is that when we intelligently realize\nthat the innermost principle of being, must by reason of its universality,\nhave a common nature with our own, then we have solved the paradox of\nuniversal knowledge, for we have realized our identity of being with the\nUniversal Mind, which is commensurate with the Universal Law. Thus we\narrive at the truth of St. John's statement, \"Ye know all things,\" only\nthis knowledge is primarily on the spiritual plane. It is not brought out\ninto intellectual statement whether needed or not; for it is not in itself\nthe specific knowledge of particular facts, but it is the undifferentiated\nprinciple of knowledge which we may differentiate in any direction that we\nchoose. This is a philosophical necessity of the case, for though the\naction of the individual mind consists in differentiating the universal\ninto particular applications, to differentiate the _whole_ universal would\nbe a contradiction in terms; and so, because we cannot exhaust the\ninfinite, our possession of it must consist in our power to differentiate\nit as the occasion may require, the only limit being that which we\nourselves assign to the manifestation.\n\nIn this way, then, the recognition of the community of _personality_\nbetween ourselves and the universal undifferentiated Spirit, which is the\nroot and substance of all things, solves the question of our release from\nthe iron grasp of an inflexible Law, not by abrogating the Law, which would\nmean the annihilation of all things, but by producing in us an intelligence\nequal in affinity with the universal Law itself, and thus enabling us to\napprehend and meet the requirements of the Law in each particular as it\narises. In this way the Cosmic Intelligence becomes individualized, and the\nindividual intelligence becomes universalized; the two became one, and in\nproportion as this unity is realized and acted on, it will be found that\nthe Law, which gives rise to all outward conditions, whether of body or of\ncircumstances, becomes more and more clearly understood, and can therefore\nbe more freely made use of, so that by steady, intelligent endeavour to\nunfold upon these lines we may reach degrees of power to which it is\nimpossible to assign any limits. The student who would understand the\nrationale of the unfoldment of his own possibilities must make no mistake\nhere. He must realize that the whole process is that of bringing the\nuniversal within the grasp of the individual by raising the individual to\nthe level of the universal and not vice-versa. It is a mathematical truism\nthat you cannot contract the infinite, and that you _can_ expand the\nindividual; and it is precisely on these lines that evolution works. The\nlaws of nature cannot be altered in the least degree; but we can come into\nsuch a realization of our own relation to the universal principle of Law\nthat underlies them as to be able to press all particular laws, whether of\nthe visible or invisible side of Nature, into our service and so find\nourselves masters of the situation. This is to be accomplished by\nknowledge; and the only knowledge which will effect this purpose in all its\nmeasureless immensity is the knowledge of the personal element in Universal\nSpirit in its reciprocity to our own personality. Our recognition of this\nSpirit must therefore be twofold, as the principle of necessary sequence,\norder or Law, and also as the principle of Intelligence, responsive to our\nown recognition of it.\n\n\n\n\nVIII.\n\nRECIPROCAL ACTION OF THE UNIVERSAL AND INDIVIDUAL MINDS.\n\n\nIt must be admitted that the foregoing considerations bring us to the\nborders of theological speculation, but the student must bear in mind that\nas a Mental Scientist it is his business to regard even the most exalted\nspiritual phenomena from a purely scientific standpoint, which is that of\nthe working of a universal natural Law. If he thus simply deals with the\nfacts as he finds them, there is little doubt that the true meaning of many\ntheological statements will become clear to him: but he will do well to lay\nit down as a general rule that it is not necessary either to the use or\nunderstanding of any law, whether on the personal or the impersonal side of\nNature, that we should give a theological explanation of it: although,\ntherefore, the personal quality inherent in the universal underlying\nspirit, which is present in all things, cannot be too strongly insisted\nupon, we must remember that in dealing with it we are still dealing with a\npurely natural power which reappears at every point with protean variety of\nform, whether as person, animal, or thing. In each case what it becomes to\nany individual is exactly measured by that individual's recognition of it.\nTo each and all it bears the relation of supporter of the race, and where\nthe individual development is incapable of realizing anything more, this is\nthe limit of the relation; but as the individual's power of recognition\nexpands, he finds a reciprocal expansion on the part of this intelligent\npower which gradually develops into the consciousness of intimate\ncompanionship between the individualized mind and the unindividualized\nsource of it.\n\nNow this is exactly the relation which, on ordinary scientific principles,\nwe should expect to find between the individual and the cosmic mind, on the\nsupposition that the cosmic mind is subjective mind, and for reasons\nalready given we can regard it in no other light. As subjective mind it\nmust reproduce exactly the conception of itself which the objective mind of\nthe individual, acting through his own subjective mind, impresses upon it;\nand at the same time as creative mind, it builds up external facts in\ncorrespondence with this conception. \"Quot homines tot sententi\u00e6\": each one\nexternalizes in his outward circumstances precisely his idea of the\nUniversal Mind; and the man who realizes that by the natural law of mind he\ncan bring the Universal Mind into perfectly reciprocal action with its own,\nwill on the one hand make it a source of infinite instruction, and on the\nother a source of infinite power. He will thus wisely alternate the\npersonal and impersonal aspects respectively between his individual mind\nand the Universal Mind; when he is seeking for guidance or strength he will\nregard his own mind as the impersonal element which is to _receive\npersonality_ from the superior wisdom and force of the Greater Mind; and\nwhen, on the other hand, he is to give out the stores thus accumulated, he\nmust reverse the position and consider his own mind as the personal\nelement, and the Universal Mind as the impersonal, which he can therefore\n_direct_ with certainty by impressing his own personal desire upon it. We\nneed not be staggered at the greatness of this conclusion, for it follows\nnecessarily from the natural relation between the subjective and the\nobjective minds; and the only question is whether we will limit our view to\nthe lower level of the latter, or expand it so as to take in the limitless\npossibilities which the subjective mind presents to us.\n\nI have dealt with this question at some length because it affords the key\nto two very important subjects, the Law of Supply and the nature of\nIntuition. Students often find it easier to understand how the mind can\ninfluence the body with which it is so intimately associated, than how it\ncan influence circumstances. If the operation of thought-power were\nconfined exclusively to the individual mind this difficulty might arise;\nbut if there is one lesson the student of Mental Science should take to\nheart more than another, it is that the action of thought-power is not\nlimited to a circumscribed individuality. What the individual does is to\n_give direction_ to something which is unlimited, to call into action a\nforce infinitely greater than his own, which because it is in itself\nimpersonal though intelligent, will receive the impress of his personality,\nand can therefore make its influence felt far beyond the limits which bound\nthe individual's objective perception of the circumstances with which he\nhas to deal. It is for this reason that I lay so much stress on the\ncombination of two apparent opposites in the Universal Mind, the union of\nintelligence with impersonality. The intelligence not only enables it to\nreceive the impress of our thought, but also causes it to devise exactly\nthe right _means_ for bringing it into accomplishment. This is only the\nlogical result of the hypothesis that we are dealing with infinite\nIntelligence which is also infinite Life. Life means Power, and infinite\nlife therefore means limitless power; and limitless power moved by\nlimitless intelligence cannot be conceived of as ever stopping short of the\naccomplishment of its object; therefore, given the _intention_ on the part\nof the Universal Mind, there can be no doubt as to its ultimate\naccomplishment. Then comes the question of intention. How do we know what\nthe intention of the Universal Mind may be? Here comes in the element of\nimpersonality. It has _no intention_, because it is _impersonal_. As I have\nalready said, the Universal mind works by a law of averages for the\nadvancement of the race, and is in no way concerned with the particular\nwishes of the individual. If his wishes are in line with the forward\nmovement of the everlasting principle, there is nowhere in Nature any power\nto restrict him in their fulfilment. If they are opposed to the general\nforward movement, then they will bring him into collision with it, and it\nwill crush him. From the relation between them it results that the same\nprinciple which shows itself in the individual mind as Will, becomes in the\nuniversal mind a Law of Tendency; and the direction of this tendency must\nalways be to life-givingness, because the universal mind is the\nundifferentiated Life-spirit of the universe. Therefore in every case the\ntest is whether our particular intention is in this same lifeward\ndirection: and if it is, then we may be absolutely certain that there is no\nintention on the part of the Universal Mind to thwart the intention of our\nown individual mind; we are dealing with a purely impersonal force, and it\nwill no more oppose us by specific plans of its own than will steam or\nelectricity. Combining then, these two aspects of the Universal Mind, its\nutter impersonality and its perfect intelligence, we find precisely the\nsort of natural force we are in want of, something which will undertake\nwhatever we put into its hands without asking questions or bargaining for\nterms, and which, having undertaken our business, will bring to bear on it\nan intelligence to which the united knowledge of the whole human race is as\nnothing, and a power equal to this intelligence. I may be using a rough and\nready mode of expression, but my object is to bring home to the student the\nnature of the power he can employ and the method of employing it, and I may\ntherefore state the whole position thus:--Your object is not to run the\nwhole cosmos, but to draw particular benefits, physical, mental, moral, or\nfinancial into your own or someone else's life. From this individual point\nof view the universal creative power has no mind of its own, and therefore\nyou can make up its mind for it. When its mind is thus made up for it, it\nnever abrogates its place as the creative power, but at once sets to work\nco carry out the purpose for which it has thus been concentrated; and\nunless this concentration is dissipated by the same agency (yourself) which\nfirst produced it, it will work on by the law of growth to complete\nmanifestation on the outward plane.\n\nIn dealing with this great impersonal intelligence, we are dealing with the\ninfinite, and we must fully realize infinitude as that which touches all\npoints, and if it does, there should be no difficulty in understanding that\nthis intelligence can draw together the means requisite for its purpose\neven from the ends of the world; and therefore, realizing the Law according\nto which the result can be produced, we must resolutely put aside all\nquestioning as to the specific means which will be employed in any case. To\nquestion this is to sow that very seed of doubt which it is our first\nobject to eradicate, and our intellectual endeavour should therefore be\ndirected, not to the attempt to foretell the various secondary causes which\nwill eventually combine to produce the desired result, laying down\nbeforehand what particular causes should be necessary, and from what\nquarter they should come; but we should direct our intellectual endeavour\nto seeing more clearly the rationale of the general law by which trains of\nsecondary causes are set in motion. Employed in the former way our\nintellect becomes the greatest hindrance to our success, for it only helps\nto increase our doubts, since it is trying to grasp particulars which, at\nthe time are entirely outside its circle of vision; but employed in the\nlatter it affords the most material aid in maintaining that nucleus without\nwhich there is no centre from which the principle of growth can assert\nitself. The intellect can only deduce consequences from facts which it is\nable to state, and consequently cannot deduce any assurance from facts of\nwhose existence it cannot yet have any knowledge through the medium of the\noutward senses; but for the same reason it can realize the existence of a\n_Law_ by which the as yet unmanifested circumstances may be brought into\nmanifestation. Thus used in its right order, the intellect becomes the\nhandmaid of that more interior power within us which manipulates the unseen\nsubstance of all things, and which we may call relative first cause.\n\n\n\n\nIX.\n\nCAUSES AND CONDITIONS.\n\n\nThe expression \"_relative_ first cause\" has been used in the last section\nto distinguish the action of the creative principle in the _individual_\nmind from Universal First Cause on the one hand and from secondary causes\non the other. As it exists in _us_, primary causation is the power to\ninitiate a train of causation directed to an individual purpose. As the\npower of initiating a fresh sequence of cause and effect it is first cause,\nand as referring to an individual purpose it is relative, and it may\ntherefore be spoken of as relative first cause, or the power of primary\ncausation manifested by the individual. The understanding and use of this\npower is the whole object of Mental Science, and it is therefore necessary\nthat the student should clearly see the relation between causes and\nconditions. A simple illustration will go further for this purpose than any\nelaborate explanation. If a lighted candle is brought into a room the room\nbecomes illuminated, and if the candle is taken away it becomes dark again.\nNow the illumination and the darkness are both conditions, the one positive\nresulting from the presence of the light, and the other negative resulting\nfrom its absence: from this simple example we therefore see that every\npositive condition has an exactly opposite negative condition corresponding\nto it, and that this correspondence results from their being related to the\n_same cause_, the one positively and the other negatively; and hence we may\nlay down the rule that all positive conditions result from the active\npresence of a certain cause, and all negative conditions from the absence\nof such a cause. A condition, whether positive or negative, is never\n_primary_ cause, and the _primary_ cause of any series can never be\nnegative, for negation is the condition which arises from the absence of\nactive causation. This should be thoroughly understood as it is the\nphilosophic basis of all those \"denials\" which play so important a, part in\nMental Science, and which may be summed up in the statement that evil being\nnegative, or privation of good, has no substantive existence in itself.\nConditions, however, whether positive or negative, are no sooner called\ninto existence than they become causes in their turn and produce further\nconditions, and so on _ad infinitum_, thus giving rise to the whole train\nof secondary causes. So long as we judge only from the information conveyed\nto us by the outward senses, we are working on the plane of secondary\ncausation and see nothing but a succession of conditions, forming part of\nan endless train of antecedent conditions coming out of the past and\nstretching away into the future, and from this point of view we are under\nthe rule of an iron destiny from which there seems no possibility of\nescape. This is because the outward senses are only capable of dealing with\nthe relations which one mode of limitation bears to another, for they are\nthe instruments by which we take cognizance of the relative and the\nconditioned. Now the only way of escape is by rising out of the region of\nsecondary causes into that of primary causation, where the originating\nenergy is to be found before it has yet passed into manifestation as a\ncondition. This region is to be found _within ourselves_; it is the region\nof pure ideas; and it is for this reason that I have laid stress on the two\naspects of spirit as pure thought and manifested form. The thought-image or\nideal pattern of a thing is the _first cause_ relatively to that thing; it\nis the substance of that thing untrammelled, by any antecedent conditions.\n\nIf we realize that all visible things _must_ have their origin in spirit,\nthen the whole creation around us is the standing evidence that the\nstarting-point of all things is in thought-images or ideas, for no other\naction than the formation of such images can be conceived of spirit prior\nto its manifestation in matter. If, then, this is spirit's modus operandi\nfor self-expression, we have only to transfer this conception from the\nscale of cosmic spirit working on the plane of the universal to that of\nindividualized spirit working on the plane of the particular, to see that\nthe formation of an ideal image by means of our thought is setting first\ncause in motion with regard to this specific object. There is no difference\nin kind between the operation of first cause in the universal and in the\nparticular, the difference is only a difference of scale, but the power\nitself is identical. We must therefore always be very clear as to whether\nwe are _consciously_ using first cause or not. Note the word \"consciously\"\nbecause, whether consciously or unconsciously, we are always using first\ncause; and it was for this reason I emphasized the fact that the Universal\nMind is purely subjective and therefore bound by the laws which apply to\nsubjective mind on whatever scale. Hence we are _always_ impressing some\nsort of ideas upon it, whether we are aware of the fact or not, and all our\nexisting limitations result from our having habitually impressed upon it\nthat idea of limitation which we have imbibed by restricting all\npossibility to the region of secondary causes. But now when investigation\nhas shown us that conditions are never causes in _themselves_, but only the\nsubsequent links of a chain started on the plane of the pure ideal, what we\nhave to do is to reverse our method of thinking and regard the ideal as the\nreal, and the outward manifestation as a mere reflection which must change\nwith every change of the object which casts it. For these reasons it is\nessential to know whether we are consciously making use of first cause with\na definite purpose or not, and the criterion is this. If we regard the\nfulfilment of our purpose as contingent upon any _circumstances_, past,\npresent, or future, we are not making use of first cause; we have descended\nto the level of secondary causation, which is the region of doubts, fears,\nand limitations, all of which we are impressing upon the universal\nsubjective mind with the inevitable result that it will build up\ncorresponding external conditions. But if we realize that the region of\nsecondary causes is the region of mere reflections we shall not think of\nour purpose as contingent on any conditions whatever, but shall know that\nby forming the idea of it in the absolute, and maintaining that idea, we\nhave shaped the first cause into the desired form and can await the result\nwith cheerful expectancy.\n\nIt is here that we find the importance of realizing spirit's independence\nof time and space. An ideal, as such, cannot be formed in the future. It\nmust either be formed here and now or not be formed at all; and it is for\nthis reason that every teacher, who has ever spoken with due knowledge of\nthe subject, has impressed upon his followers the necessity of picturing to\nthemselves the fulfilment of their desires as _already accomplished_ on the\nspiritual plane, as the indispensable condition of fulfilment in the\nvisible and concrete.\n\nWhen this is properly understood, any anxious thought as to the _means_ to\nbe employed in the accomplishment of our purposes is seen to be quite\nunnecessary. If the end is already secured, then it follows that all the\nsteps leading to it are secured also. The means will pass into the smaller\ncircle of our conscious activities day by day in due order, and then we\nhave to work upon them, not with fear, doubt, or feverish excitement, but\ncalmly and joyously, because we _know_ that the end is already secured, and\nthat our reasonable use of such means as present themselves in the desired\ndirection is, only one portion of a much larger co-ordinated movement, the\nfinal result of which admits of no doubt. Mental Science does not offer a\npremium to idleness, but it takes, all work out of the region of anxiety\nand toil by assuring the worker of the success of his labour, if not in the\nprecise form he anticipated, then in some other still better suited to his\nrequirements. But suppose, when we reach a point where some momentous\ndecision has to be made, we happen to decide wrongly? On the hypothesis\nthat the end is already secured you cannot decide wrongly. Your right\ndecision is as much one of the necessary steps in the accomplishment of the\nend as any of the other conditions leading up to it, and therefore, while\nbeing careful to avoid rash action, we may make sure that the same Law\nwhich is controlling the rest of the circumstances in the right direction\nwill influence our judgment in that direction also. To get good results we\nmust properly understand our relation to the great impersonal power we are\nusing. It is intelligent and we are intelligent, and the two intelligences\nmust co-operate. We must not fly in the face of the Law by expecting it to\ndo _for_ us what it can only do _through_ us; and we must therefore use our\nintelligence with the knowledge that it is acting _as the instrument of a\ngreater intelligence_; and because we have this knowledge we may, and\nshould, cease from all anxiety as to the final result. In actual practice\nwe must first form the ideal conception of our object with the definite\nintention of impressing it upon the universal mind--it is this intention\nwhich takes such thought out of the region of mere casual fancies--and then\naffirm that our knowledge of the Law is sufficient reason for a calm\nexpectation of a corresponding result, and that therefore all necessary\nconditions will come to us in due order. We can then turn to the affairs of\nour daily life with the calm assurance that the initial conditions are\neither there already or will soon come into view. If we do not at once see\nthem, let us rest content with the knowledge that the spiritual prototype\nis already in existence and wait till some circumstance pointing in the\ndesired direction begins to show itself. It may be a very small\ncircumstance, but it is the direction and not the magnitude which is to be\ntaken into consideration. As soon as we see it we should regard it as the\nfirst sprouting of the seed we have sown in the Absolute, and do calmly,\nand without excitement, whatever the circumstances may seem to require, and\nthen later on we shall see that this doing will in turn lead to further\ncircumstances in the same direction until we find ourselves conducted step\nby step to the accomplishment of our object. In this way the understanding\nof the great principle of the Law of Supply will, by repeated experiences,\ndeliver us more and more completely out of the region of anxious thought\nand toilsome labour and bring us into a new world where the useful\nemployment of all our powers, whether mental or physical, will only be an\nunfolding of our individuality upon the lines of its own nature, and\ntherefore a perpetual source of health and happiness; a sufficient\ninducement, surely, to the careful study of the laws governing the relation\nbetween the individual and the Universal Mind.\n\n\n\n\nX.\n\nINTUITION.\n\n\nWe have seen that the subjective mind is amenable to suggestion by the\nobjective mind; but there is also an action of the subjective mind upon the\nobjective. The individual's subjective mind is his own innermost self, and\nits first care is the maintenance of the individuality of which it is the\nfoundation; and since it is pure spirit it has its continual existence in\nthat plane of being where all things subsist in the universal here and the\neverlasting now, and consequently can, inform the lower mind of things\nremoved from its ken either by distance or futurity. As the absence of the\nconditions of time and space must logically concentrate all things into a\npresent focus, we can assign no limit to the subjective mind's power of\nperception, and therefore the question arises, why does it not keep the\nobjective mind continually informed on all points? And the answer is that\nit would do so if the objective mind were sufficiently trained to recognize\nthe indications given, and to effect this training is one of the purposes\nof Mental Science. When once we recognize the position of the subjective\nmind as the supporter of the whole individuality we cannot doubt that much\nof what we take to be the spontaneous movement of the objective mind has\nits origin in the subjective mind prompting the objective mind in the right\ndirection without our being consciously aware of it. But at times when the\nurgency of the case seems to demand it, or when, for some reason yet\nunknown, the objective mind is for a while more closely _en rapport_ with\nthe subjective mind, the interior voice is heard strongly and persistently;\nand when this is the case we do well to pay heed to it. Want of space\nforbids me to give examples, but doubtless such will not be wanting in the\nreader's experience.\n\nThe importance of understanding and following the intuition cannot be\nexaggerated, but I candidly admit the great practical difficulty of keeping\nthe happy mean between the disregard of the interior voice and allowing\nourselves to be run away with by groundless fancies. The best guide is the\nknowledge that comes of personal experience which gradually leads to the\nacquisition of a sort of inward sense of touch that enables us to\ndistinguish the true from the false, and which appears to grow with the\nsincere desire for truth and with the recognition of the spirit as its\nsource. The only general principles the writer can deduce from his own\nexperience are that when, in spite of all appearances pointing in the\ndirection of a certain line of conduct, there is still a persistent\n_feeling_ that it should not be followed, in the majority of instances it\nwill be found that the argument of the objective mind, however correct on\nthe facts objectively known, was deficient from ignorance of facts which\ncould not be objectively known at the time, but which were known to the\nintuitive faculty. Another principle is that our _very first_ impression\nof feeling on any subject is generally correct. Before the objective mind\nhas begun to argue on the subject it is like the surface of a smooth lake\nwhich clearly reflects the light from above; but as soon as it begins to\nargue from outside appearances these also throw their reflections upon its\nsurface, so that the original image becomes blurred and is no longer\nrecognizable. This first conception is very speedily lost, and it should\ntherefore be carefully observed and registered in the memory with a view to\ntesting the various arguments which will subsequently arise on the\nobjective plane. It is however impossible to reduce so interior an action\nas that of the intuition to the form of hard and fast rules, and beyond\ncarefully noting particular cases as they occur, probably the best plan for\nthe student will be to include the whole subject of intuition in the\ngeneral principle of the Law of Attraction, especially if he sees how this\nlaw interacts with that personal quality of universal spirit of which we\nhave already spoken.\n\n\n\n\nXI.\n\nHEALING.\n\n\nThe subject of healing has been elaborately treated by many writers and\nfully deserves all the attention that has been given to it, but the object\nof these lectures is rather to ground the student in those general\nprinciples on which _all_ conscious use of the creative power of thought is\nbased, than to lay down formal rules for specific applications of it. I\nwill therefore examine the broad principles which appear to be common to\nthe various methods of mental healing which are in use, each of which\nderives its efficacy, not from the peculiarity of the method, but from it\nbeing such a method as allows the higher laws of Nature to come into play.\nNow the principle universally laid down by all mental healers, in whatever\nvarious terms they may explain it, is that the basis of all healing is a\nchange in belief. The sequence from which this results is as follows:--the\nsubjective mind is the creative faculty within us, and creates whatever the\nobjective mind impresses upon it; the objective mind, or intellect,\nimpresses its thought upon it; the thought is the expression of the belief;\nhence whatever the subjective mind creates is the reproduction externally\nof our beliefs. Accordingly our whole object is to change our beliefs, and\nwe cannot do this without some solid ground of conviction of the falsity of\nour old beliefs and of the truth of our new ones, and this ground we find\nin that law of causation which I have endeavoured to explain. The wrong\nbelief which externalizes as sickness is the belief that some secondary\ncause, which is really only a condition, is a primary cause. The knowledge\nof the law shows that there is only _one_ primary cause, and this is the\nfactor which in our own individuality we call subjective or sub-conscious\nmind. For this reason I have insisted on the difference between placing an\nidea in the sub-conscious mind, that is, on the plane of the absolute and\nwithout reference to time and space, and placing the same idea in the\nconscious intellectual mind which only perceives things as related to time\nand space. Now the only conception you can have of_ yourself_ in the\nabsolute, or unconditioned, is as _purely living Spirit_, not hampered by\nconditions of any sort, and therefore not subject to illness; and when this\nidea is firmly impressed on the sub-conscious mind, it will externalize it.\nThe reason why this process is not always successful at the first attempt\nis that all our life we have been holding the false belief in sickness as a\nsubstantial entity in itself and thus being a primary cause, instead of\nbeing merely a negative _condition_ resulting from the _obsence_ of a\nprimary cause; and a belief which has become ingrained from childhood\ncannot be eradicated at a moment's notice. We often find, therefore, that\nfor some time after a treatment there is an improvement in the patient's\nhealth, and then the old symptoms return. This is because the new belief in\nhis own creative faculty has not yet had time to penetrate down to the\ninnermost depths of the subconscious mind, but has only partially entered\nit. Each succeeding treatment strengthens the sub-conscious mind in its\nhold of the new belief until at last a permanent cure is effected. This is\nthe method of self-treatment based on the patient's own knowledge of the\nlaw of his being.\n\nBut \"there is not in all men this knowledge,\" or at any rate not such a\nfull recognition of it as will enable them to give successful treatment to\nthemselves, and in these cases the intervention of the healer becomes\nnecessary. The only difference between the healer and the patient is that\nthe healer has learnt how to control the less self-conscious modes of the\nspirit by the more self-conscious mode, while the patient has not yet\nattained to this knowledge; and what the healer does is to substitute his\nown objective or conscious mentality, which is will joined to intellect,\nfor that of the patient, and in this way to find entrance to his\nsub-conscious mind and impress upon it the suggestion of perfect health.\n\nThe question then arises, how can the healer substitute his own conscious\nmind for that of the patient? and the answer shows the practical\napplication of those very abstract principles which I have laid down in the\nearlier sections. Our ordinary conception of ourselves is that of an\nindividual personality which ends where another personality begins, in\nother words that the two personalities are entirely separate. This is an\nerror. There is no such hard and fast line of demarcation between\npersonalities, and the boundaries between one and another can be increased\nor reduced in rigidity according to will, in fact they may be temporarily\nremoved so completely that, for the time being, the two personalities\nbecome merged into one. Now the action which takes place between healer and\npatient depends on this principle. The patient is asked by the healer to\nput himself in a receptive mental attitude, which means that he is to\nexercise his volition for the purpose of removing the barrier of his own\nobjective personality and thus affording entrance to the mental power of\nthe healer. On his side also the healer does the same thing, only with this\ndifference, that while the patient withdraws the barrier on his side with\nthe intention of admitting a flowing-in, the healer does so with the\nintention of allowing a flowing-out: and thus by the joint action of the\ntwo minds the barriers of both personalities are removed and the direction\nof the flow of volition is determined, that is to say, it flows from the\nhealer as actively willing to give, towards the patient as passively\nwilling to receive, according to the universal law of Nature that the flow\nmust always be from the _plenum_ to the _vacuum_. This mutual removal of\nthe external mental barrier between healer and patient is what is termed\nestablishing a _rapport_ between them, and here we find one most valuable\npractical application of the principle laid down earlier in this book, that\npure spirit is present in its entirety at every point simultaneously. It is\nfor this reason that as soon as the healer realizes that the barriers of\nexternal personality between himself and his patient have been removed, he\ncan then speak to the sub-conscious mind of the patient as though it were\nhis own, for both being pure spirit the _thought_ of their identity _makes_\nthem identical, and both are concentrated into a single entity at a single\npoint upon which the conscious mind of the healer can be brought to bear,\naccording to the universal principle of the control of the subjective mind\nby the objective mind through suggestion. It is for this reason I have\ninsisted on the distinction between _pure_ spirit, or spirit conceived of\napart from extension in any matrix and the conception of it as so extended.\nIf we concentrate our mind upon the diseased condition of the patient we\nare thinking of him as a separate personality, and are not fixing our mind\nupon that conception of him as pure spirit which will afford us effectual\nentry to his springs of being. We must therefore withdraw our thought from\nthe contemplation of symptoms, and indeed from his corporeal personality\naltogether, and must think of him as a purely spiritual individuality, and\nas such entirely free from subjection to any conditions, and consequently\nas voluntarily externalizing the conditions most expressive of the vitality\nand intelligence which pure spirit is. Thinking of him thus, we then make\nmental affirmation that he shall build up outwardly the correspondence of\nthat perfect vitality which he knows himself to be inwardly; and this\nsuggestion being impressed by the healer's conscious thought, while the\npatient's conscious thought is at the same time impressing the fact that he\nis receiving the active thought of the healer, the result is that the\npatient's sub-conscious mind becomes thoroughly imbued with the recognition\nof its own life-giving power, and according to the recognized law of\nsubjective mentality proceeds to work out this suggestion into external\nmanifestation, and thus health is substituted for sickness.\n\nIt must be understood that the purpose of the process here described is to\nstrengthen the subject's individuality, not to dominate it. To use it for\ndomination is _inversion_, bringing its appropriate penalty to the\noperator.\n\nIn this description I have contemplated the case where the patient is\nconsciously co-operating with the healer, and it is in order to obtain this\nco-operation that the mental healer usually makes a point of instructing\nthe patient in the broad principles of Mental Science, if he is not already\nacquainted with them. But this is not always advisable or possible.\nSometimes the statement of principles opposed to existing prejudices\narouses opposition, and any active antagonism on the patient's part must\ntend to intensify the barrier of conscious personality which it is the\nhealer's first object to remove. In these cases nothing is so effective as\n_absent treatment_. If the student has grasped all that has been said on\nthe subject of spirit and matter, he will see that in mental treatment time\nand space count for nothing, because the whole action takes place on a\nplane where these conditions do not obtain; and it is therefore quite\nimmaterial whether the patient be in the immediate presence of the healer\nor in a distant country. Under these circumstances it is found by\nexperience that one of the most effectual modes of mental healing is by\ntreatment during sleep, because then the patient's whole system is\nnaturally in a state of relaxation which prevents him offering any\nconscious opposition to the treatment. And by the same rule the healer also\nis able to treat even more effectively during his own sleep than while\nwaking. Before going to sleep he firmly impresses on his subjective mind\nthat it is to convey curative suggestion to the subjective mind of the\npatient, and then, by the general principles of the relation between\nsubjective and objective mind this suggestion is carried out during all the\nhours that the conscious individuality is wrapped in repose. This method is\napplicable to young children to whom the principles of the science cannot\nbe explained; and also to persons at a distance: and indeed the only\nadvantage gained by the personal meeting of the patient and healer is in\nthe instruction that can be orally given, or when the patient is at that\nearly stage of knowledge where the healer's visible presence conveys the\nsuggestion that something is then being done which could not be done in his\nabsence; otherwise the presence or absence of the patient are matters\nperfectly indifferent. The student must always recollect that the sub-\nconscious mind does not have to work _through_ the intellect or conscious\nmind to produce its curative effects. It is part of the all-pervading\ncreative force of Nature, while the intellect is not creative but\ndistributive.\n\nFrom mental healing it is but a step to telepathy, clairvoyance and other,\nkindred manifestations of transcendental power which, are from time to time\nexhibited by the subjective entity and which follow laws as accurate as\nthose which govern what we are accustomed to consider our more normal\nfaculties; but these subjects do not properly fall within the scope of a\nbook whose purpose is to lay down the broad principles which underlie _all_\nspiritual phenomena. Until these are clearly understood the student cannot\nprofitably attempt the detailed study of the more interior powers; for to\ndo so without a firm foundation of knowledge and some experience in its\npractical application would only be to expose himself to unknown dangers,\nand would be contrary to the scientific principle that the advance into the\nunknown can only be made from the standpoint of the known, otherwise we\nonly come into a confused region of guess-work without any clearly defined\nprinciples for our guidance.\n\n\n\n\nXII.\n\nTHE WILL.\n\n\nThe Will is of such primary importance that the student should be on his\nguard against any mistake as to the position which it holds in the mental\neconomy. Many writers and teachers insist on will-power as though that were\nthe creative faculty. No doubt intense will-power can evolve certain\nexternal results, but like all other methods of compulsion it lacks the\npermanency of natural growth. The appearances, forms, and conditions\nproduced by mere intensity of will-power will only hang together so long as\nthe compelling force continues; but let it be exhausted or withdrawn, and\nthe elements thus forced into unnatural combination will at once fly back\nto their proper affinities; the form created by compulsion never had the\ngerm of vitality _in itself_ and is therefore dissipated as soon as the\nexternal energy which supported it is withdrawn. The mistake is in\nattributing the creative power to the will, or perhaps I should say in\nattributing the creative power to ourselves at all. The truth is that man\nnever creates anything. His function is, not to create, but to combine and\ndistribute that which is already in being, and what we call our creations\nare new combinations of already existing material, whether mental or\ncorporeal. This is amply demonstrated in the physical sciences. No one\nspeaks of creating energy, but only of transforming one form of energy into\nanother; and if we realize this as a universal principle, we shall see that\non the mental plane as well as on the physical we never create energy but\nonly provide the conditions by which the energy already existing in one\nmode can exhibit itself in another: therefore what, relatively to man, we\ncall his creative power, is that receptive attitude of expectancy which, so\nto say, makes a mould into which the plastic and as yet undifferentiated\nsubstance can flow and take the desired form. The will has much the same\nplace in our mental machinery that the tool-holder has in a power-lathe: it\nis not the power, but it keeps the mental faculties in that position\nrelatively to the power which enables it to do the desired work. If, using\nthe word in its widest sense, we may say that the imagination is the\ncreative function, we may call the will the centralizing principle. Its\nfunction is to keep the imagination centred in the right direction. We are\naiming at consciously controlling our mental powers instead of letting them\nhurry us hither and thither in a purposeless manner, and we must therefore\nunderstand the relation of these powers to each other for the production of\nexternal results. First the whole train of causation is started by some\nemotion which gives rise to a desire; next the judgment determines whether\nwe shall externalize this desire or not; then the desire having been\napproved by the judgment, the will comes forward and directs the\nimagination to form the necessary spiritual prototype; and the imagination\nthus centred on a particular object creates the spiritual nucleus, which in\nits turn acts as a centre round which the forces of attraction begin to\nwork, and continue to operate until, by the law of growth, the concrete\nresult becomes perceptible to our external senses.\n\nThe business of the will, then, is to retain the various faculties of our\nmind in that position where they are really doing the work we wish, and\nthis position may be generalized into the three following attitudes; either\nwe wish to act upon something, or be acted on by it, or to maintain a\nneutral position; in other words we either intend to project a force, or\nreceive a force or keep a position of inactivity relatively to some\nparticular object. Now the judgment determines which of these three\npositions we shall take up, the consciously active, the consciously\nreceptive, or the consciously neutral; and then the function of the will is\nsimply to maintain the position we have determined upon; and if we maintain\nany given mental attitude we may reckon with all certainty on the law of\nattraction drawing us to those correspondences which exteriorly symbolize\nthe attitude in question. This is very different from the semi-animal\nscrewing-up of the nervous forces which, with some people, stands for\nwill-power. It implies no strain on the nervous system and is consequently\nnot followed by any sense of exhaustion. The will-power, when transferred\nfrom the region of the lower mentality to the spiritual plane, becomes\nsimply a calm and peaceful determination to retain a certain mental\nattitude in spite of all temptations to the contrary, knowing that by doing\nso the desired result will certainly appear.\n\nThe training of the will and its transference from the lower to the higher\nplane of our nature are among the first objects of Mental Science. The man\nis summed up in his will. Whatever he does by his own will is his own act;\nwhatever he does without the consent of his will is not his own act but\nthat of the power by which his will was coerced; but we must recognize\nthat, on the mental plane, no other individuality can obtain control over\nour will unless we first allow it to do so; and it is for this reason that\nall legitimate use of Mental Science is towards the strengthening of the\nwill, whether in ourselves or others, and bringing it under the control of\nan enlightened reason. When the will realizes its power to deal with first\ncause it is no longer necessary for the operator to state to himself _in\nextenso_ all the philosophy of its action every time he wishes to use it,\nbut, knowing that the trained will is a tremendous spiritual force acting\non the plane of first cause, he simply expresses his desire with the\nintention of operating on that plane, and knows that the desire thus\nexpressed will in due time externalize itself as concrete fact. He now sees\nthat the point which really demands his earnest attention is not whether he\npossesses the power of externalizing any results he chooses, but of\nlearning to choose wisely what results to produce. For let us not suppose\nthat even the highest powers will take us out of the law of cause and\neffect. We can never set any cause in motion without calling forth those\neffects which it already contains in embryo and which will again become\ncauses in their turn, thus producing a series which must continue to flow\non until it is cut short by bringing into operation a cause of an opposite\ncharacter to the one which originated it. Thus we shall find the field for\nthe exercise of our intelligence continually expanding with the expansion\nof our powers; for, granted a good intention, we shall always wish to\ncontemplate the results of our action as far as our intelligence will\npermit. We may not be able to see very far, but there is one safe general\nprinciple to be gained from what has already been said about causes and\nconditions, which is that the whole sequence always partakes of the same\ncharacter as the initial cause: if that character is negative, that is,\ndestitute of any desire to externalize kindness, cheerfulness, strength,\nbeauty or some other sort of good, this negative quality will make itself\nfelt all down the line; but if the opposite affirmative character is in the\noriginal motive, then it will reproduce its kind in forms of love, joy,\nstrength and beauty with unerring precision. Before setting out, therefore,\nto produce new conditions by the exercise of our thought-power we should\nweigh carefully what further results they are likely to lead to; and here,\nagain, we shall find an ample field for the training of our will, in\nlearning to acquire that self-control which will enable us to postpone an\ninferior present satisfaction to a greater prospective good.\n\nThese considerations naturally lead us to the subject of concentration. I\nhave just now pointed out that all duly controlled mental action consists\nin holding the mind in one of three attitudes; but there is a fourth mental\ncondition, which is that of letting our mental functions run on without our\nwill directing them to any definite purpose. It is on this word _purpose_\nthat we must fix our whole attention; and instead of dissipating our\nenergies, we must follow an intelligent method of concentration. The, word\nmeans being gathered up at a centre, and the centre of anything is that\npoint in which all its forces are equally balanced. To concentrate\ntherefore means first to bring our minds into a condition of equilibrium\nwhich will enable us to consciously direct the flow of spirit to a\ndefinitely recognized purpose, and then carefully to guard our thoughts\nfrom inducing a flow in the opposite direction. We must always bear in mind\nthat we are dealing with a wonderful _potential_ energy which is not yet\ndifferentiated into any particular mode, and that by the action of our mind\nwe can differentiate it into any specific mode of activity that we will;\nand by keeping our thought fixed on the fact that the inflow of this energy\n_is_ taking place and that by our mental attitude we _are_ determining its\ndirection, we shall gradually realize a corresponding externalization.\nProper concentration, therefore, does not consist of strenuous effort which\nexhausts the nervous system and defeats its own object by suggesting the\nconsciousness of an adverse force to be fought against, and thus creating\nthe adverse circumstances we dread; but in shutting out all thoughts of a\nkind that would disperse the spiritual nucleus we are forming and dwelling\ncheerfully on the knowledge that, because the law is certain in its action,\nour desire is certain of accomplishment. The other great principle to be\nremembered is that concentration is for the purpose of determining the\n_quality_ we are going to give to the previously undifferentiated energy\nrather than to arrange the _specific circumstances_ of its manifestation.\n_That_ is the work of the creative energy itself, which will build up its\nown forms of expression quite naturally if we allow it, thus saving us a\ngreat deal of needless anxiety. What we really want is expansion in a\ncertain direction, whether of health, wealth, or what not: and so long as\nwe get this, what does it matter whether it reaches us through some channel\nwhich we thought we could reckon upon or through some other whose existence\nwe had not suspected. It is the fact that we are concentrating energy of a\nparticular kind for a particular purpose that we should fix our minds upon,\nand not look upon any specific details as essential to the accomplishment\nof our object.\n\nThese are the two golden rules regarding concentration; but we must not\nsuppose that because we have to be on our guard against idle drifting there\nis to be no such thing as repose; on the contrary it is during periods of\nrepose that we accumulate strength for action; but repose does not mean a\nstate of purposelessness. As pure spirit the subjective mind never rests:\nit is only the objective mind in its connection with the physical body that\nneeds rest; and though there are no doubt times when the greatest possible\nrest is to be obtained by stopping the action, of our conscious thought\naltogether, the more generally advisable method is by changing the\ndirection of the thought and, instead of centering it upon something we\nintend to _do_, letting it dwell quietly upon what we _are_. This direction\nof thought might, of course, develop into the deepest philosophical\nspeculation, but it is not necessary that we should be always either\nconsciously projecting our forces to produce some external effect or\nworking out the details of some metaphysical problem; but we may simply\nrealize ourselves as part of the universal livingness and thus gain a quiet\ncentralization, which, though maintained by a conscious act of the\nvolition, is the very essence of rest. From this standpoint we see that all\nis Life and all is Good, and that Nature, from her clearly visible surface\nto her most arcane depths, is one vast storehouse of life and good entirely\ndevoted to our individual use. We have the key to all her treasures, and we\ncan now apply our knowledge of the law of being without entering into all\nthose details which are only needed for purposes of study, and doing so we\nfind it results in our having acquired the consciousness of our _oneness\nwith the whole_. This is the great secret: and when we have once fathomed\nit we can enjoy our possession of the whole, or of any part of it, because\nby our recognition we have made it, and can increasingly make it, our own.\nWhatever most appeals to us at any particular time or place is that mode of\nthe universal living spirit with which at that moment we are most in touch,\nand realizing this, we shall draw from it streams of vital energy which\nwill make the very sensation of livingness a joy and will radiate from us\nas a sphere of vibration that can deflect all injurious suggestion on\nwhatever plane. We may not have literary, artistic, or scientific skill to\npresent to others the results of our communings with Nature, but the joy of\nthis sympathetic indrawing will nevertheless produce a corresponding\noutflow manifesting itself in the happier look and kindlier mien of him who\nthus realizes his oneness with every aspect of the whole. He realizes--and\nthis is the great point in that attitude of mind which is not directed to\nany specific external object--that, for himself, he is, and always must be\nthe centre of all this galaxy of Life, and thus he contemplates himself as\nseated at the centre of infinitude, not an infinitude of blank space, but\npulsating with living being, in all of which he knows that the true essence\nis nothing but good. This is the very opposite to a selfish\nself-centredness; it, is the centre where we find that we both receive from\nall and flow out to all. Apart from this principle of circulation there is\nno true life, and if we contemplate our central position only as affording\nus greater advantages for in-taking, we have missed the whole point of our\nstudies by missing the real nature of the Life-principle, which is action\nand re-action. If we would have life enter into us, we ourselves must enter\ninto life--enter into the spirit of it, just as we must enter into the\nspirit of a book or a game to enjoy it. There can be no action at a centre\nonly. There must be a perpetual flowing out towards the circumference, and\nthence back again to the centre to maintain a vital activity; otherwise\ncollapse must ensue either from anaemia or congestion. But if we realize\nthe reciprocal nature of the vital pulsation, and that the outflowing\nconsists in the habit of mind which gives itself to the good it sees in\nothers, rather than in any specific actions, then we shall find that the\ncultivation of this disposition will provide innumerable avenues for the\nuniversal livingness to flow through us, whether as giving or receiving,\nwhich we had never before suspected: and this action and re-action will so\nbuild up our own vitality that each day will find us more thoroughly alive\nthan any that had preceded it. This, then, is the attitude of repose in\nwhich we may enjoy all the beauties of science, literature and art or may\npeacefully commune with the spirit of nature without the aid of any third\nmind to act as its interpreter, which is still a purposeful attitude\nalthough not directed to a specific object: we have not allowed the will to\nrelax its control, but have merely altered its direction; so that for\naction and repose alike we find that our strength lies in our recognition\nof the unity of the spirit and of ourselves as individual concentrations of\nit.\n\n\n\n\nXIII.\n\nIN TOUCH WITH SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND.\n\n\nThe preceding pages have made the student in some measure aware of the\nimmense importance of our dealings with the sub-conscious mind. Our\nrelation to it, whether on the scale of the individual or the universal, is\nthe key to all that we are or ever can be. In its unrecognized working it\nis the spring of all that we can call the automatic action of mind and\nbody, and on the universal scale it is the silent power of evolution\ngradually working onwards to that \"divine event, to which the whole\ncreation moves\"; and by our conscious recognition of it we make it,\nrelatively to ourselves, all that we believe it to be. The closer our\n_rapport_ with it becomes, the more what we have hitherto considered\nautomatic action, whether in our bodies or our circumstances, will pass\nunder our control, until at last we shall control our whole individual\nworld. Since, then, this is the stupendous issue involved, the question how\nwe are to put ourselves practically in touch with the sub-conscious mind is\na very important one. Now the clue which gives us the right direction is to\nbe found in the _impersonal_ quality of sub-conscious mind of which I have\nspoken. Not impersonal as lacking the _elements_ of personality; nor even,\nin the case of individual subjective mind, as lacking the sense of\nindividuality; but impersonal in the sense of not recognizing the\nparticular external relations which appear to the objective mind to\nconstitute its personality, and having a realization of itself quite\nindependent of them. If, then, we would come in touch with it we must meet\nit on its own ground. It can see things only from the deductive standpoint,\nand therefore cannot take note of the inductive standpoint from which we\nconstruct the idea of our external personality; and accordingly if we would\nput ourselves in touch with it, we cannot do so by bringing it down to the\nlevel of the external and non-essential but only by rising to its own level\non the plane of the interior and essential. How can this be done? Let two\nwell-known writers answer. Rudyard Kipling tells us in his story of \"Kim\"\nhow the boy used at times to lose his sense of personality by repeating to\nhimself the question, _Who_ is Kim? Gradually his personality would seem to\nfade and he would experience a feeling of passing into a grander and a\nwider life, in which the boy Kim was unknown, while his own conscious\nindividuality remained, only exalted and expanded to an inconceivable\nextent; and in Tennyson's life by his son we are told that at times the\npoet had a similar experience. We come into touch with the absolute exactly\nin proportion as we withdraw ourselves from the relative: they vary\ninversely to each other.\n\nFor the purpose, then, of getting into touch with our sub-conscious mind we\nmust endeavour to think of ourselves as pure being, as that entity which\ninteriorly supports the outward manifestation, and doing so we shall\nrealize that the essential quality of pure being must be good. It is in\nitself _pure Life_, and as such cannot desire anything detrimental to pure\nLife under whatever form manifested. Consequently the purer our intentions\nthe more readily we shall place ourself _en rapport_ with our subjective\nentity; and _a fortiori_ the same applies to that Greater Sub-conscious\nMind of which our individual subjective mind is a particular manifestation.\nIn actual practice the process consists in first forming a clear conception\nin the objective mind of the idea we wish to convey to the subjective mind:\nthen, when this has been firmly grasped, endeavour to lose sight of all\nother facts connected with the external personality except the one in\nquestion, and then mentally address the subjective mind as though it were\nan independent entity and impress upon it what you want it to do or to\nbelieve. Everyone must formulate his own way of working, but one method,\nwhich is both simple and effective is to say to the subjective mind, \"This\nis what I want you to do; you will now step into my place and do it,\nbringing all your powers and intelligence to bear, and considering yourself\nto be none other than myself.\" Having done this return to the realization\nof your own objective personality and leave the subjective mind to perform\nits task in full confidence that, by the law of its nature, it will do so\nif not hindered by a repetition of contrary messages from the objective\nmind. This is not a mere fancy but a truth daily proved by the experience\nof increasing numbers. The facts have not been fabricated to fit the\ntheory, but the theory has been built up by careful observation of the\nfacts; and since it has been shown both by theory and practice that such is\nthe law of the relation between subjective and objective mind, we find\nourselves face to face with a very momentous question. Is there any reason\nwhy the laws which hold good of the individual subjective mind should not\nhold good of the Universal Mind also? and the answer is that there is not.\nAs has been already shown the Universal Mind must, by its very\nuniversality, be purely subjective, and what is the law of a part must also\nbe the law of the whole: the qualities of fire are the same whether the\ncentres of combustion be great or small, and therefore we may well conclude\nthese lectures by considering what will be the result if we apply what we\nhave learnt regarding the individual subjective mind to the Universal Mind.\n\nWe have learnt that the three great facts regarding subjective mind are its\ncreative power, its amenableness to suggestion, and its inability to work\nby any other than the deductive method. This last is an exceedingly\nimportant point, for it implies that the action of the subjective mind is\nin no way limited by precedent. The inductive method works on principles\ninferred from an already existing pattern, and therefore at the best only\nproduces the old thing in a new shape. But the deductive method works\naccording to the essence or spirit of the principle, and does not depend on\nany previous concrete manifestation for its apprehension of it; and this\nlatter method of working must necessarily be that of the all-originating\nMind, for since there could be no prior existing pattern from which it\ncould learn the principles of construction, the want of a pattern would\nhave prevented its creating anything had its method been inductive instead\nof deductive. Thus by the necessity of the case the Universal Mind must act\ndeductively, that is, according to the law which has been found true of\nindividual subjective mind. It is thus not bound by any precedent, which\nmeans that its creative power is absolutely unlimited; and since it is\nessentially subjective mind, and not objective mind, it is entirely\namenable to suggestion. Now it is an unavoidable inference from the\nidentity of the law governing subjective mind, whether in the individual or\nthe universal, that just as we can by suggestion impress a certain\ncharacter of personality upon the individual subjective mind, so we can,\nand do, upon the Universal Mind; and it is for this reason that I have\ndrawn attention to the inherent personal _quality_ of pure spirit when\ncontemplated in its most interior plane. It becomes, therefore, the most\nimportant of all considerations with what character we invest the Universal\nMind; for since our relation to it is _purely subjective_ it will\ninfallibly bear _to us_ exactly that character which we impress upon it; in\nother words it will be to us exactly what we believe it to be. This is\nsimply a logical inference from the fact that, as subjective mind, our\nprimary relation to it can only be on the subjective plane, and indirectly\nour objective relations must also spring from the same source. This is the\nmeaning of that remarkable passage twice repeated in the Bible, \"With, the\npure thou wilt show thyself pure, and with the froward thou wilt show\nthyself froward.\" (Ps. xviii., 26, and II. Sam. xxii., 27), for the context\nmakes it clear that these words are addressed to the Divine Being. The\nspiritual kingdom is _within_ us, and as we realize it _there_ so it\nbecomes to us a reality. It is the unvarying law of the subjective life\nthat \"as a man thinketh in his heart so is he,\" that is to say, his inward\nsubjective states are the only true reality, and what we call external\nrealities are only their objective correspondences. If we thoroughly\nrealize the truth that the Universal Mind must be to us exactly according\nto our conception of it, and that this relation is not merely imaginary but\nby the law of subjective mind must be to us an actual fact and the\nfoundation of all other facts, then it is impossible to over-estimate the\nimportance of the conception of the Universal Mind which we adopt. To the\nuninstructed there is little or no choice: they form a conception in\naccordance with the tradition they have received from others, and until\nthey have learnt to think for themselves, they have to abide by the results\nof that tradition: for natural laws admit of no exceptions, and however\nfaulty the traditional idea may be, its acceptance will involve a\ncorresponding reaction upon the Universal Mind, which will in turn be\nreflected into the conscious mind and external life of the individual. But\nthose who understand the law of the subject will have no one but themselves\nto blame if they do not derive all possible benefits from it. The greatest\nTeacher of Mental Science the world has ever seen has laid down\nsufficiently plain rules for our guidance. With a knowledge of the subject\nwhose depth can be appreciated only by those who have themselves some\npractical acquaintance with it, He bids His unlearned audiences, those\ncommon people who heard Him gladly, picture to themselves the Universal\nMind as a benign Father, tenderly compassionate of all and sending the\ncommon bounties of Nature alike on the evil and the good; but He also\npictured It as exercising a special and peculiar care over those who\nrecognize Its willingness to do so:--\"the very hairs of your head are all\nnumbered,\" and \"ye are of more value than many sparrows.\" Prayer was to be\nmade to the unseen Being, not with doubt or fear, but with the absolute\nassurance of a certain answer, and no limit was to be set to its power or\nwillingness to work for us. But to those who did not thus realize it, the\nGreat Mind is necessarily the adversary who casts them into prison until\nthey have paid the uttermost farthing; and thus in all cases the Master\nimpressed upon his hearers the exact correspondence of the attitude of this\nunseen Power towards _them_ with their own attitude towards _it_. Such\nteaching was not a narrow anthropomorphism but the adaptation to the\nintellectual capacity of the unlettered multitude of the very deepest\ntruths of what we now call Mental Science. And the basis of it all is the\ncryptic personality of spirit hidden throughout the infinite of Nature\nunder every form of manifestation. As unalloyed Life and Intelligence it\n_can_ be no other than good, it can entertain no intention of evil, and\nthus all intentional evil must put us in opposition to it, and so deprive\nus of the consciousness of its guidance and strengthening and thus leave us\nto grope our own way and fight our own battle single-handed against the\nuniverse, odds which at last will surely prove too great for us. But\nremember that the opposition can never be on the part of the Universal\nMind, for in itself it is sub-conscious mind; and to suppose any active\nopposition taken on its own initiative would be contrary to all we have\nlearnt as to the nature of sub-conscious mind whether in the individual or\nthe universal; the position of the Universal Mind towards us is always the\nreflection of our own attitude. Therefore although the Bible is full of\nthreatening against those who persist in conscious opposition to the Divine\nLaw of Good, it is on the other hand full of promises of immediate and full\nforgiveness to all who change, their attitude and desire to co-operate with\nthe Law of Good so far as they know it. The laws of Nature do not act\nvindictively; and through all theological formularies and traditional\ninterpretations let us realize that what we are dealing with is the supreme\nlaw of our own being; and it is on the basis of this natural law that we\nfind such declarations as that in Ezek. xviii., 22, which tells that if we\nforsake our evil ways our past transgressions shall never again be\nmentioned to us. We are dealing with the great principles of our subjective\nbeing, and our misuse of them in the past can never make them change their\ninherent law of action. If our method of using them in the past has brought\nus sorrow, fear and trouble, we have only to fall back on the law that if\nwe reverse the cause the effects will be reversed also; and so what we have\nto do is simply to reverse our mental attitude and then endeavour to act up\nto the new one. The sincere endeavour to act up to our new mental attitude\nis essential, for we cannot really think in one way and act in another; but\nour repeated failures to fully act as we would wish must not discourage us.\nIt is the sincere intention that is the essential thing, and this will in\ntime release us from the bondage of habits which at present seem almost\ninsuperable.\n\nThe initial step, then, consists in determining to picture the Universal\nMind as the ideal of all we could wish it to be both to ourselves and to\nothers, together with the endeavour to reproduce this ideal, however\nimperfectly, in our own life; and this step having been taken, we can then\ncheerfully look upon it as our ever-present Friend, providing all good,\nguarding from all danger, and guiding us with all counsel. Gradually as the\nhabit of thus regarding the Universal Mind grows upon us, we shall find\nthat in accordance with the laws we have been considering, it will become\nmore and more _personal_ to us, and in response to our desire its inherent\nintelligence will make itself more and more clearly perceptible within as a\npower of perceiving truth far beyond any statement of it that we could\nformulate by merely intellectual investigation. Similarly if we think of it\nas a great power devoted to supplying all our needs, we shall impress this\ncharacter also upon it, and by the law of subjective mind it will proceed\nto enact the part of that special providence which we have credited it with\nbeing; and if, beyond the general care of our concerns, we would draw to\nourselves some particular benefit, the same rule holds good of impressing\nour desire upon the Universal Subjective Mind. And if we realize that above\nand beyond all this we want something still greater and more enduring, the\nbuilding-up of character and unfolding of our powers so that we may expand\ninto fuller and yet fuller measures of joyous and joy-giving Life, still\nthe same rule holds good: convey to the Universal Mind the suggestion of\nthe desire, and by the law of relation between subjective and objective\nmind this too will be fulfilled. And thus the deepest problems of\nphilosophy bring us back to the old statement of the Law:--Ask and ye shall\nreceive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you.\nThis is the summing-up of the natural law of the relation between us and\nthe Divine Mind. It is thus no vain boast that Mental Science can enable us\nto make our lives what we will. We must start from where we are now, and by\nrightly estimating our relation to the Divine Universal Mind we can\ngradually grow into any conditions we desire, provided we first make\nourselves in habitual mental attitude the person who corresponds to those\nconditions: for we can never get over the law of correspondence, and the\nexternalization will always be in accord with the internal principle that\ngives rise to it. And to this law there is no limit. What it can do for us\nto-day it can do to-morrow, and through all that procession of to-morrows\nthat loses itself in the dim vistas of eternity. Belief in limitation is\nthe one and only thing that causes limitation, because we thus impress\nlimitation upon the creative principle; and in proportion as we lay that\nbelief aside our boundaries will expand, and increasing life and more\nabundant blessing will be ours.\n\nBut we must not ignore our responsibilities. Trained thought is far more\npowerful than untrained, and therefore the more deeply we penetrate into\nMental Science the more carefully we must guard against all thoughts and\nwords expressive of even the most modified form of ill-will. Gossip,\ntale-bearing, sneering laughter, are not in accord with the principles of\nMental Science; and similarly even our smallest thoughts of good carry with\nthem a seed of good which will assuredly bear fruit in due time. This is\nnot mere \"goodie, goodie,\" but an important lesson in Mental Science, for\nour subjective mind takes its colour from our settled mental habits, and an\noccasional affirmation or denial will not be sufficient to change it; and\nwe must therefore cultivate that tone which we wish to see reproduced in\nour conditions whether of body, mind, or circumstance.\n\nIn these lectures my purpose has been, not so much to give specific rules\nof practice as to lay down the broad general principles of Mental Science\nwhich will enable the student to form rules for himself. In every walk in\nlife, book knowledge is only a means to an end. Books can only direct us\nwhere to look and what to look for, but we must do the finding _for\nourselves;_ therefore, if you have really grasped the principles of the\nscience, you will frame rules of your own which will give you better\nresults than any attempt to follow somebody else's method, which was\nsuccessful in their hands precisely because it was theirs. Never fear to be\nyourself. If Mental Science does not teach you to be yourself it teaches\nyou nothing. Yourself, more yourself, and yet more yourself is what you\nwant; only with the knowledge that the true self includes the inner and\nhigher self which is always in immediate touch with the Great Divine Mind.\n\nAs Walt Whitman says:--\"You are not all included between your hat and your\nboots.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_The growing popularity of the Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science has led\nme to add to the present edition three more sections on Body, Soul, and\nSpirit, which it is hoped will prove useful by rendering the principles of\nthe interaction of these three factors somewhat clearer_.\n\n\n\n\nXIV.\n\nTHE BODY.\n\n\nSome students find it difficult to realize that mental action can produce\nany real effect upon material substance; but if this is not possible there\nis no such thing as Mental Science, the purpose of which is to produce\nimproved conditions both of body and environment, so that the ultimate\nmanifestation aimed at is always one of demonstration upon the plane of the\nvisible and concrete. Therefore to afford conviction of an actual\nconnection between the visible and the invisible, between the inner and the\nouter, is one of the most important points in the course of our studies.\n\nThat such a connection must exist is proved by metaphysical argument in\nanswer to the question, \"How did anything ever come into existence at all?\"\nAnd the whole creation, ourselves included, stands as evidence to this\ngreat truth. But to many minds merely abstract argument is not completely\nconvincing, or at any rate it becomes more convincing if it is supported by\nsomething of a more concrete nature; and for such readers I would give a\nfew hints as to the correspondence between the physical and the mental. The\nsubject covers a very wide area, and the limited space at my disposal will\nonly allow me to touch on a few suggestive points, still these may be\nsufficient to show that the abstract argument has some corresponding facts\nat the back of it.\n\nOne of the most convincing proofs I have seen is that afforded by the\n\"biometre,\" a little instrument invented by an eminent French scientist,\nthe late Dr. Hippolyte Baraduc, which shows the action of what he calls the\n\"vital current.\" His theory is that this force, whatever its actual nature\nmay be, is universally present, and operates as a current of physical\nvitality perpetually, flowing with more or less energy through every\nphysical organism, and which can, at any rate to some extent, be controlled\nby the power of the human will. The theory in all its minutiae is\nexceedingly elaborate, and has been described in detail in Dr. Baraduc's\npublished works. In a conversation I had with him about a year ago, he told\nme he was writing another book which would throw further light on the\nsubject, but a few months later he passed over before it was presented to\nthe world. The fact, however, which I wish to put before the reader, is the\nocular demonstration of the connection between mind and matter, which an\nexperiment with the biometre affords.\n\nThe instrument consists of a bell glass, from the inside of which is\nsuspended a copper needle by a fine silken thread. The glass stands on a\nwooden support, below which is a coil of copper wire, which, however, is\nnot connected with any battery or other apparatus, and merely serves to\ncondense the current. Below the needle, inside the glass, there is a\ncircular card divided into degrees to mark the action of the needle. Two of\nthese instruments are placed side by side, but in no way connected, and the\nexperimenter then holds out the fingers of both hands to within about an\ninch of the glasses. According to the theory, the current enters at the\nleft hand, circulates through the body, and passes out at the right hand,\nthat is to say, there is an indrawing at the left and a giving-out at the\nright, thus agreeing with Reichenbach's experiments on the polarity of the\nhuman body.\n\nI must confess that, although I had read Dr. Baraduc's book, \"Les\nVibrations Humaines,\" I approached the instrument in a very sceptical frame\nof mind; but I was soon convinced of my error. At first, holding a mental\nattitude of entire relaxation, I found that the left-hand needle was\nattracted through twenty degrees, while the right-hand needle, the one\naffected by the out-going current, was repelled through ten degrees. After\nallowing the instrument to return to its normal equilibrium I again\napproached it with the purpose of seeing whether a change of mental\nattitude would in the least modify the flow of current. This time I assumed\nthe strongest mental attitude I could with the intention of sending out a\nflow through the right hand, and the result as compared with the previous\none was remarkable. The left-hand needle was now attracted only through ten\ndegrees, while the right-hand one was deflected through something over\nthirty, thus clearly indicating the influence of the mental faculties in\nmodifying the action of the current. I may mention that the experiment was\nmade in the presence of two medical men who noted the movement of the\nneedles.\n\nI will not here stop to discuss the question of what the actual\nconstitution of this current of vital energy may be--it is sufficient for\nour present purpose that it is there, and the experiment I have described\nbrings us face to face with the fact of a correspondence between our own\nmental attitude and the invisible forces of nature. Even if we say that\nthis current is some form of electricity, and that the variation of its\naction is determined by changes in the polarization of the atoms of the\nbody, then this change of polarity is the result of mental action; so that\nthe quickening or retarding of the cosmic current is equally the result of\nthe mental attitude whether we suppose our mental force to act directly\nupon the current itself or indirectly by inducing changes in the molecular\nstructure of the body. Whichever hypothesis we adopt the conclusion is the\nsame, namely, that the mind has power to open or close the door to\ninvisible forces in such a way that the result of the mental action becomes\napparent on the material plane.\n\nNow, investigation shows that the physical body, is a mechanism specially\nadapted for the transmutation of the inner or mental power into modes of\nexternal activity. We know from medical science that the whole body is\ntraversed by a network of nerves which serve as the channels of\ncommunication between the indwelling spiritual ego, which we call mind, and\nthe functions of the external organism. This nervous system is dual. One\nsystem, known as the Sympathetic, is the channel for all those activities\nwhich are not consciously directed by our volition, such as the operation\nof the digestive organs, the repair of the daily wear and tear of the\ntissues, and the like. The other system, known as the Voluntary or\nCerebro-spinal system, is the channel through which we receive conscious\nperception from the physical senses and exercise control over the movements\nof the body. This system has its centre in the brain, while the other has\nits centre in a ganglionic mass at the back of the stomach known as the\nsolar plexus, and sometimes spoken of as the abdominal brain. The cerebro-\nspinal system is the channel of our volitional or conscious mental action,\nand the sympathetic system is the channel of that mental action which\nunconsciously supports the vital functions of the body. Thus the cerebro-\nspinal system is the organ of conscious mind and the sympathetic is that of\nsub-conscious mind.\n\nBut the interaction of conscious and subconscious mind requires a similar\ninteraction between the corresponding systems of nerves, and one\nconspicuous connection by which this is provided is the \"vagus\" nerve. This\nnerve passes out of the cerebral region as a portion of the voluntary\nsystem, and through it we control the vocal organs; then it passes onwards\nto the thorax sending out branches to the heart and lungs; and finally,\npassing through the diaphragm, it loses the outer coating which\ndistinguishes the nerves of the voluntary system and becomes identified\nwith those of the sympathetic system, so forming a connecting link between\nthe two and making the man physically a single entity.\n\nSimilarly different areas of the brain indicate, their connection with the\nobjective and subjective activities of the mind respectively, and speaking\nin a general way we may assign the frontal portion of the brain to the\nformer and the posterior portion to the latter, while the intermediate\nportion partakes of the character of both.\n\nThe intuitional faculty has its correspondence in this upper area of the\nbrain situated between the frontal and posterior portions, and\nphysiologically speaking, it is here that intuitive ideas find entrance.\nThese at first are more or less unformed and generalized in character, but\nare nevertheless perceived by the conscious mind, otherwise we should not\nbe aware of them at all. Then the effort of nature is to bring these ideas\ninto more definite and usable shape, so the conscious mind lays hold of\nthem and induces a corresponding vibratory current in the voluntary system\nof nerves, and this in turn induces a similar current in the involuntary\nsystem, thus handing the idea over to the subjective mind. The vibratory\ncurrent which had first descended from the apex of the brain to the frontal\nbrain and thus through the voluntary system to the solar plexus is now\nreversed and ascends from the solar plexus through the sympathetic system\nto the posterior brain, this return current indicating the action of the\nsubjective mind.\n\nIf we were to remove the surface portion of the apex of the brain we should\nfind immediately below it the shining belt of brain substance called the\n\"corpus callosum.\" This is the point of union between the subjective and\nobjective, and as the current returns from the solar plexus to this point\nit is restored to the objective portion of the brain in a fresh form which\nit has acquired by the silent alchemy of the subjective mind. Thus the\nconception which was at first only vaguely recognized is restored to the\nobjective mind in a definite and workable form, and then the objective\nmind, acting through the frontal brain--the area of comparison and\nanalysis--proceeds to work upon a clearly perceived idea and to bring out\nthe potentialities that are latent in it.\n\nIt must of course be borne in mind that I am here speaking of the mental\nego in that, mode of its existence with which we are most familiar, that is\nas clothed in flesh, though there may be much to say as to other modes of\nits activity. But for our daily life we have to consider ourselves as we\nare in that aspect of life, and from this point of view the physiological\ncorrespondence of the body to the action of the mind is an important item;\nand therefore, although we must always remember that the origin of ideas is\npurely mental, we must not forget that on the physical plane every mental\naction implies a corresponding molecular action in the brain and in the\ntwo-fold nervous system.\n\nIf, as the old Elizabethan poet says, \"the soul is form, and doth the body\nmake,\" then it is clear that the physical organism must be a mechanical\narrangement as specially adapted for the use of the soul's powers as a\nsteam-engine is for the power of steam; and it is the recognition of this\nreciprocity between the two that is the basis of all spiritual or mental\nhealing, and therefore the study of this mechanical adaptation is an\nimportant branch of Mental Science. Only we must not forget that it is the\neffect and not the cause.\n\nAt the same time it is important to remember that such a thing as reversal\nof the relation between cause and effect is possible, just as the same\napparatus may be made to generate mechanical power by the application of\nelectricity, or to generate electricity by the application of mechanical\npower. And the importance of this principle consists in this. There is\nalways a tendency for actions which were at first voluntary to become\nautomatic, that is, to pass from the region of conscious mind into that of\nsubconscious mind, and to acquire a permanent domicile there. Professor\nElmer Gates, of Washington, has demonstrated this physiologically in his\nstudies of brain formation. He tells us that every thought produces a\nslight molecular change in the substance of the brain, and the repetition\nof the same sort of thought causes a repetition of the same molecular\naction until at last a veritable channel is formed in the brain substance,\nwhich can only be eradicated by a reverse process of thought. In this way\n\"grooves of thought\" are very literal things, and when once established the\nvibrations of the cosmic currents flow automatically through them and thus\nreact upon the mind by a process the reverse of that by which our voluntary\nand intentional in-drawing from the invisible is affected. In this way are\nformed what we call \"habits,\" and hence the importance of controlling our\nthinking and guarding it against undesirable ideas.\n\nBut on the other hand this reactionary process may be used to confirm good\nand life-giving modes of thought, so that by a knowledge of its laws we may\nenlist even the physical body itself in the building up of that perfectly\nwhole personality, the attainment of which is the aim and object of our\nstudies.\n\n\n\n\nXV.\n\nTHE SOUL.\n\n\nHaving now obtained a glimpse of the adaptation of the physical organism to\nthe action of the mind we must next realize that the mind itself is an\norganism which is in like manner adapted to the action of a still higher\npower, only here the adaptation is one of mental faculty. As with other\ninvisible forces all we can know of the mind is by observing what it does,\nbut with this difference, that since we ourselves _are_ this mind, our\nobservation is an interior observation of states of consciousness. In this\nway we recognize certain faculties of our mind, the working order of which\nI have considered at page 84; but the point to which I would now draw\nattention is that these faculties always work under the influence of\nsomething which stimulates them, and this stimulus may come either from\nwithout through the external senses, or from within by the consciousness of\nsomething not perceptible on the physical plane. Now the recognition of\nthese interior sources of stimulus to our mental faculties, is an important\nbranch of Mental Science, because the mental action thus set up works just\nas accurately through the physical correspondences as those which start\nfrom the recognition of external facts, and therefore the control and right\ndirection of these inner perceptions is a matter of the first moment.\n\nThe faculties most immediately concerned are the intuition and the\nimagination, but it is at first difficult to see how the intuition, which\nis entirely spontaneous, can be brought under the control of the will. Of\ncourse, the spontaneousness of the intuition cannot in any way be\ninterfered with, for if it ceased to act spontaneously it would cease to be\nthe intuition. Its province is, as it were, to capture ideas from the\ninfinite and present them to the mind to be dealt with at its discretion.\nIn our mental constitution the intuition is the point of origination and,\ntherefore, for it to cease to act spontaneously would be for it to cease to\nact at all. But the experience of a long succession of observers shows that\nthe intuition can be trained so as to acquire increased sensitiveness in\nsome, particular direction, and the choice of the _general direction_ is\ndetermined by the will of the individual.\n\nIt will be found that the intuition works most readily in respect to those\nsubjects which most habitually occupy our thought; and according to the\nphysiological correspondences which we have been considering this might be\naccounted for on the physical plane by the formation of brain-channels\nspecially adapted for the induction in the molecular system of vibrations\ncorresponding to the particular class of ideas in question. But of course\nwe must remember that the ideas themselves are not caused by the molecular\nchanges but on the contrary are the cause of them; and it is in this\ntranslation of thought action into physical action that we are brought face\nto face with the eternal mystery of the descent of spirit into matter; and\nthat though we may trace matter through successive degrees of refinement\ntill it becomes what, in comparison with those denser modes that are most\nfamiliar, we might call a spiritual substance, yet at the end of it it is\nnot the intelligent thinking principle itself. The criterion is in the word\n\"vibrations.\" However delicately etheric the substance its movement\ncommences by the vibration of its particles, and a vibration is a wave\nhaving a certain length, amplitude, and periodicity, that is to say,\nsomething which can exist only in terms of space and time; and as soon as\nwe are dealing with anything capable of the conception of measurement we\nmay be quite certain that we are not dealing with Spirit but only with one\nof its vehicles. Therefore although we may push our analysis of matter\nfurther and ever further back--and on this line there is a great deal of\nknowledge to be gained--we shall find that the point at which spiritual\npower or thought-force is translated into etheric or atomic vibration will\nalways elude us. Therefore we must not attribute the origination of ideas\nto molecular displacement in the brain, though, by the reaction of the\nphysical upon the mental which I have spoken of above, the formation of\nthought-channels in the grey matter of the brain may tend to facilitate the\nreception of certain ideas. Some people are actually conscious of the\naction of the upper portion of the brain during the influx of an intuition,\nthe sensation being that of a sort of expansion in that brain area, which\nmight be compared to the opening of a valve or door; but all attempts to\ninduce the inflow of intuitive ideas by the physiological expedient of\ntrying to open this valve by the exercise of the will should be discouraged\nas likely to prove injurious to the brain. I believe some Oriental systems\nadvocate this method, but we may well trust the mind to regulate the action\nof its physical channels in a manner suitable to its own requirements,\ninstead of trying to manipulate the mind by the unnatural forcing of its\nmechanical instrument. In all our studies on these lines we must remember\nthat development is always by perfectly natural growth and is not brought\nabout by unduly straining any portion of the system.\n\nThe fact, however, remains that the intuition works most freely in that\ndirection in which we most habitually concentrate our thought; and in\npractice it will be found that the best way to cultivate the intuition in\nany particular direction is to meditate upon the _abstract principles_ of\nthat particular class of subjects rather than only to consider particular\ncases. Perhaps the reason is that particular cases have to do with specific\nphenomena, that is with the law working under certain limiting conditions,\nwhereas the _principles_ of the law are not limited by local conditions,\nand so habitual meditation on _them_ sets our intuition free to range in an\ninfinitude where the conception of antecedent conditions does not limit it.\nAnyway, whatever may be the theoretical explanation, you will find that the\nclear grasp of abstract principles in any direction has a wonderfully\nquickening effect upon the intuition in that particular direction.\n\nThe importance of recognizing our power of thus giving direction to the\nintuition cannot be exaggerated, for if the mind is attuned to sympathy\nwith the highest phases of spirit this power opens the door to limitless\npossibilities of knowledge. In its highest workings intuition becomes\ninspiration, and certain great records of fundamental truths and supreme\nmysteries which have come down to us from thousands of generations\nbequeathed by deep thinkers of old can only be accounted for on the\nsupposition that their earnest thought on the Originating Spirit, coupled\nwith a reverent worship of It, opened the door, through their intuitive\nfaculty, to the most sublime inspirations regarding the supreme truths of\nthe universe both with respect to the evolution of the cosmos and to the\nevolution of the individual. Among such records explanatory of the supreme\nmysteries three stand out pre-eminent, all bearing witness to the same ONE\nTruth, and each throwing light upon the other; and these three are the\nBible, the Great Pyramid, and the Pack of Cards--a curious combination some\nwill think, but I hope in another volume of this series to be able to\njustify my present statement. I allude to these three records here because\nthe unity of principle which they exhibit, notwithstanding their wide\ndivergence of method, affords a standing proof that the direction taken by\nthe intuition is largely determined by the will of the individual opening\nthe mind in that particular direction.\n\nVery closely allied to the intuition is the faculty of imagination. This\ndoes not mean mere fancies, which we dismiss without further consideration,\nbut our power of forming mental images upon which we dwell. These, as I\nhave said in the earlier part of this book, form a nucleus which, on its\nown plane, calls into action the universal Law of Attraction, thus giving\nrise to the principle of Growth. The relation of the intuition to the\nimagination is that the intuition grasps an idea from the Great Universal\nMind, in which all things subsist as _potentials_, and presents it to the\nimagination in its essence rather than in a definite form, and then our\nimage-building faculty gives it a clear and definite form which it presents\nbefore the mental vision, and which we then vivify by letting our thought\ndwell upon it, thus infusing our own personality into it, and so providing\nthat personal element through which the specific action of the universal\nlaw relatively to the particular individual always takes place.[1] Whether\nour thought shall be allowed thus to dwell upon a particular mental image\ndepends on our own will, and our exercise of our will depends on our belief\nin our power to use it so as to disperse or consolidate a given mental\nimage; and finally our belief in our power to do this depends on our\nrecognition of our relation to God, Who is the source of all power; for it\nis an invariable truth that our life will take its whole form, tone, and\ncolor from our conception of God, whether that conception be positive or\nnegative, and the sequence by which it does so is that now given.\n\nIn this way, then, our intuition is related to our imagination, and this\nrelation has its physiological correspondence in the circulus of molecular\nvibrations I have described above, which, having its commencement in the\nhigher or \"ideal\" portion of the brain flows through the voluntary nervous\nsystem, the physical channel of objective mind, returning through the\nsympathetic system, the physical channel of subjective mind, thus\ncompleting the circuit and being then restored to the frontal brain, where\nit is consciously modelled into clear-cut forms suited to a specific\npurpose.\n\nIn all this the power of the will as regulating the action both of the\nintuition and the imagination must never be lost sight of, for without such\na central controlling power we should lose all sense of individuality; and\nhence the ultimate aim of the evolutionary process is to evolve individual\nwills actuated by such beneficence and enlightenment as shall make them\nfitting vehicles for the outflowing of the Supreme Spirit, which has\nhitherto created cosmically, and can now carry on the creative process to\nits highest stages only through conscious union with the individual; for\nthis is the only possible solution of the great problem, How can the\nUniversal Mind act in all its fulness upon the plane of the individual and\nparticular?\n\nThis is the ultimate of evolution, and the successful evolution of the\nindividual depends on his recognizing this ultimate and working towards it;\nand therefore this should be the great end of our studies. There is a\ncorrespondence in the constitution of the body to the faculties of the\nsoul, and there is a similar correspondence in the faculties of the soul to\nthe power of the All-originating Spirit; and as in all other adaptations of\nspecific vehicles so also here, we can never correctly understand the\nnature of the vehicle and use it rightly until we realize the nature of the\npower for the working of which it is specially adapted. Let us, then, in\nconclusion briefly consider the nature of that power.\n\n\n\n\nXVI.\n\nTHE SPIRIT.\n\n\nWhat must the Supreme All-originating Spirit be in itself? That is the\nquestion before us. Let us start with one fact regarding it about which we\ncannot have any possible doubt--it is _creative_. If it were not creative\nnothing could come into existence; therefore we know that its purpose, or\nLaw of Tendency, must be to bring individual lives into existence and to\nsurround them with a suitable environment. Now a power which has this for\nits inherent nature must be a kindly power. The Spirit of Life seeking\nexpression in individual lives can have no other intention towards them\nthan \"that they might have life, and that they might have it more\nabundantly.\" To suppose the opposite would be a contradiction in terms. It\nwould be to suppose the Eternal Principle of Life acting against itself,\nexpressing itself as the reverse of what it is, in which case it would not\nbe expressing itself but expressing its opposite; so that it is impossible\nto conceive of the Spirit of Life acting otherwise than to the increase of\nlife. This is as yet only imperfectly apparent by reason of our imperfect\napprehension of the position, and our consequent want of conscious unity\nwith the ONE Eternal Life. As our consciousness of unity becomes more\nperfect so will the life-givingness of the Spirit become more apparent. But\nin the realm of principles the purely Affirmative and Life-giving nature of\nthe All-originating Spirit is an unavoidable conclusion. Now by what name\ncan we call such an inherent desire to add to the fulness of any individual\nlife--that is, to make it stronger, brighter, and happier? If this is not\nLove, then I do not know what else it is; and so we are philosophically led\nto the conclusion that Love is the prime moving power of the Creating\nSpirit.\n\nBut expression is impossible without Form. What Form, then, should Love\ngive to the vehicles of its expression? By the hypothesis of the case it\ncould not find self-expression in forms that were hateful or repugnant to\nit--therefore the only logical correlative of Love is Beauty. Beauty is not\nyet universally manifested for the same reason that Life is not, namely,\nlack of recognition of its Principle; but, that the principle of Beauty is\ninherent in the Eternal Mind is demonstrated by all that is beautiful in\nthe world in which we live.\n\nThese considerations show us that the inherent nature of the Spirit must\nconsist in the eternal interaction of Love and Beauty as the Active and\nPassive polarity of Being. Then this is the Power for the working of which\nour soul faculties are specially adapted. And when this purpose of the\nadaptation is recognized we begin to get some insight into the way in which\nour intuition, imagination, and will should be exercized. By training our\nthought to habitually dwell upon this dual-unity of the Originating Forces\nof Love and Beauty the intuition is rendered more and more sensitive to\nideas emanating from this supreme source, and the imagining faculty is\ntrained in the formation of images corresponding to such ideas; while on\nthe physical side the molecular structure of the brain and body becomes\nmore and more perfectly adjusted to the generating of vibratory currents\ntending to the outward manifestation of the Originating Principle. Thus the\nwhole man is brought into unison with himself and with the Supreme Source\nof Life, so that, in the words of St. Paul, he is being day by day renewed\nafter the image of Him that created him.\n\nOur more immediately personal recognition of the All-originating Love and\nBeauty will thus flow out as peace of mind, health of body, discretion in\nthe management of our affairs, and power in the carrying out of our\nundertakings; and as we advance to a wider conception of the working of the\nSpirit of Love and Beauty in its infinite possibilities, so our intuition\nwill find a wider scope and our field of activity will expand along with\nit--in a word we shall discover that our individuality is growing, and that\nwe are becoming more truly ourselves than we ever were before.\n\nThe question of the specific lines on which the individual may be most\nperfectly trained into such recognition of his true relation to the\nAll-embracing Spirit of Life is therefore of supreme importance, but it is\nalso of such magnitude that even to briefly sketch its broad outlines would\nrequire a volume to itself, and I will therefore not attempt to enter upon\nit here, my present purpose being only to offer some hints of the\nprinciples underlying that wonderful three-fold unity of Body, Soul, and\nSpirit which we all know ourselves to be.\n\nWe are as yet only at the commencement of the path which leads to the\nrealization of this unity in the full development of all its powers, but\nothers have trodden the way before us, from whose experiences we may learn;\nand not least among these was the illustrious founder of the Most Christian\nFraternity of the Rosicrucians. This master-mind, setting out in his youth\nwith the intention of going to Jerusalem, changed the order of his journey\nand first sojourned for three years in the symbolical city of Damcar, in\nthe mystical country of Arabia, then for about a year in the mystical\ncountry of Egypt, and then for two years in the mystical country of Fez.\nThen, having during these six years learned all that was to be acquired in\nthose countries, he returned to his native land of Germany, where, on the\nbasis of the knowledge he had thus gained, he founded the Fraternity R.C.,\nfor whose instruction he wrote the mystical books M. and T. Then, when he\nrealized that his work in its present stage was accomplished, he of his own\nfree will laid aside the physical body, not, it is recorded, by decay, or\ndisease, or ordinary death, but by the express direction of the Spirit of\nLife, summing up all his knowledge in the words,\n\n    \"Jesus mihi omnia.\"\n\nAnd now his followers await the coming of \"the Artist Elias,\" who shall\nbring the Magnum Opus to its completion.\n\n    \"Let him that readeth understand.\"\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\nFootnote 1: See my \"Dor\u00e9 Lectures.\"","title":"The Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":30089}